


The Melancholic Path

by Strandenstein



Category: Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 | Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World (Anime)
Genre: Bitterness, Crying, Depression, Melancholy, subaru gives up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29294127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strandenstein/pseuds/Strandenstein
Summary: Subaru meets a very melancholic man during one of his last loops to reach the mansion during arc 3. After making a deal with this man his priorities are completely changed as he tries to find a new place for himself in the world he never wanted to be in to begin with.
Comments: 25
Kudos: 83





	1. Natsuki Subaru Meets Someone New

Margrave Roswaal L Mathers sat alone in his office as the early afternoon sun streamed through the curtains while he absentmindedly looked through the papers detailing Arlam villages expected harvest. Should one have walked in on the margrave they would have thought that he was diligently working away; however only the margrave and one other, knew that he was in the midst of a conversation as he sat in silence. Margrave Roswaal L Mathers was conversing with the one who had shared his body alongside him for the last 400 years, Hector, Warlock of Melancholy.

It was a deal between bitter enemies, but also a deal forged out of absolute necessity. Roswaal’s body had been so thoroughly ravaged by Hector’s Authority that he stood on the precipice of death. Hector had been greatly injured due to his inability to hurt his beloved, before having his very soul stripped from his body when the massive barrier around Sanctuary rose. Had even one of the two not been willing to put their obsession with the greedy witch aside than they both would have perished there on that day; but as they each held an obsession that eclipsed even their hatred and disdain for one another, they formed an unholy contract that has allowed their souls to cling to life and resist the Od Laguna’s pull.

“It still greatly saddens my heart to think that I must rely on someone as weak as yourself so that I may continue to exist Roswaaaaaaal” Echoed the voice of Hector through Roswaal’s head. The two had been together long enough at this point that Roswaal was able to distinguish the voice of Hector from those originating outside his own mind, and to be able to reply in turn. It took him a fair amount of practice to achieve this, during the early years it was quite common for him to mumble the words with his own voice when he tried to respond to Hector, or occasionally turn around trying to face the source of Hectors voice; these behaviors had led to a fair few of the ancestors he possessed being labelled as straight up mad.

“My dear Hector-kuuuuun, it brings a tear to my eye when the one who has become like a brother to me speaks of me sooooooooo. Are we not in this struggle to bring Sensei back togeaaaather?” Although Hector made his distaste of Roswaal very clear, Roswaal generally tried to hide his own dislike for his partner in crime. Although the two differed greatly on how they interacted with one another, they had only grown more and more similar in other regards; or more correctly, Hectors personality had gradually bled into Roswaal over the centuries. Roswaal the dedicated disciple of Echidna shared fewer traits with the current margrave than Hector did; Hector’s verbal ticks had gradually ingrained themselves into Roswaals speech pattern, his clowny and outlandish way of dressing had become the norm. However Roswaal had managed to resist some aspects of Hector, allowing a definitive line to be maintained defining where Roswaal ended and Hector began. Roswaal had always managed to resist Hectors true melancholy, for as long as Roswaal believed he could have his Sensei back once again he would never truly believe that the world was a sad and depressing place.

“The disgusting display of that boy still irks me, the pride and audacity, the stupidity to declare what he did in front of the entire Royal Selection made me feel true melancholy. Just what is the point of this great plan buried in your gospel if we must rely on that horrid piece of trash to do just about anything vaguely useful, it even brings melancholy when I think at the possibility that my beloved made an error that led to this gospel of hers being defective.”

“I can assure you Hector-kuuuuun, Sensei’s gospel has not made a mistake; Suuuubaru-kun’s devotion to Emilia ensures that he will loop through time until she is on the throne. Then and only then will we have the resources we need to ensure that Sensei’s soul can be returned to her body, and with that our loooooong partnership will end, the thouuuuuught of it makes me want to shed a tear or two.”

“Natsuki Subaru lacks the determination to work towards his own ambitious goal in defiance of time, he still seeeeeeee’s joy in the world around him. If he were to be broken, to see that the entire world outside his beloved was just an uncaring grey, then and only then would he be strong enough to be of use. He cares for too many people, the fact that he would go through so much unnecessary effort to save those children, the fact that he cares so much for the blue haired oni are both proof that he isn’t reaaaaady yet.”

“Subaru-kuuun will be broken in quite soon enough, his outburst infornt of the entiiiiiiiiiiire upper crust of Lugunica when he witnessed their disdain for our dear doll-sama shows that he’s well on his way. As well he should know that in naught but a few hours my dear friend Geuse will slaughter everyone in Arlam and this mansion, which will catalyyyyyyyyze the next part of Natsuki Suabru’s transformation. He will have no choice but to give up on the villagers and his dear Rem if he wishes to save Emilia. Once he sees that there is no hope to save anyone else besides Emilia he will be perfected, just like you and I Hector-kuuuuun”

“It nearly brings tears to my eyes to hear that Roswaaaaaaaaal, you were so close to the truth, yet just a bit too dim to ascertain the correct future. It won’t be both of us that Suuuuubaru-kun stands beside, he’ll only stand beside myself, Hector the Warlock of Melancholy.” And just as the last word finished echoing through the inside of Roswaals head he was hit with a massive wave of pain; for his other half was no longer content with just being half of a whole, it desired to be the entire whole on its own.

It started in his head, it felt as if a black mass was beginning to burrow out from somewhere deep behind his eyes. As blots of pain flared across the inside of his skull Roswaal slammed his head right down into the desk, sending papers across the room and causing an ink pot to fall to the ground and shatter.

“You know Roswaaaaaaaal, it is just so damn disgusting that you never know when to give up.”

The dark mass continued to expand within Roswaals body, it now fully occupied his skull and was reaching around the outside of his chest cavity to occupy his legs and arms. He couldn’t see anymore; his soul had been forced from his head and was now desperately trying to holdout in his chest. As the mass finished occupying his limbs Roswaal could feel his strength falter, his arms and legs were no longer his to control.

“If I give up now I won’t ever get my reunion with Sensei, but this happening wasn’t in the Gospel; my only hope at this point is to hold out and hope I can somehow force Subaru to loop, he must’ve caused something to ruin this timeline, meaning he must be forced back down the correct path.” Roswaal thought to himself as his soul was slowly compacted and forced deep within his od. However, the more Hector forced him out of his body, the harder it became for him to push Roswaal back, leading to an equilibrium where Roswaal continued to exist in the od but Hector held full control of the rest. At this point Roswaal could forcibly shut his own gate and kill them both with mana poisoning, but without some guarantee that Subaru would loop it could mean that the timeline would simply persist without Hector or Roswaal. There was a slim chance that a perfected Subaru would arrive at the doors of the mansion to whisk Emilia away, if this occurred with a dead Roswaal than his reunion with Echidna would certainly never happen. And so Roswaal simply hid inside the od of his body, content to wait until he had an opportunity to either force a restart or at least seize back control from Hector.

Hector got up from the desk and stretched out his arms in front of him, opening and closing a pair of fists as he examined and got a feel for his new body. Thanks to how he had been influencing Roswaal subtly from within, the body felt familiar. The Mathers had always been somewhat long and lanky, enough muscle to be considered fit, but not enough to give them a bulky frame, just like Hector’s original body had been. The long line of Roswaal’s had even taken to dressing in a manner akin to Hector, clothing that could be considered somewhat extravagant yet more odd than anything else. The main difference is that the long line of Roswaals had always carried themselves in such a way that made them seem eccentric compare to Hector who had always appeared to have a more rundown and depressed look.

Hector’s examination of his new body was swiftly interrupted by a red-haired maid bursting through the door, Ram. Hector knew Ram would quickly rush to Roswaal’s aid should she believe that there was even the slightest possibility that he was in danger, not just due to her maidly loyalty to her master; but also due to the feelings Hector knew she harbored for Roswaal, the same feelings that Roswaal had always refused to recognize thanks to his blind devotion towards Echidna.

Although the battle for control between Hector and Roswaal had felt like it had taken several minutes if not longer, in reality less than a minute had passed between the struggles beginning and the current moment. The flustered and worried looking Oni had rushed to her masters side immediately upon hearing the disturbance, and now that she had deduced that there wasn’t an intruder present in the room Hector would need to immediately justify the sounds, lest his possession be discovered through means unknown to even someone as learned as himself.

“Roswaal-sama is everything alright, Ram heard a disturbance and rushed here immediately! Wait is that blood running down your face? Ram will fetch Beatrice-sama right away to treat your injuries!” Ram had just happened to notice something wrong with Hectors body that he himself had failed to, the struggle for control had caused a small blood vessel behind his left eye to rupture, leading to a trickle of blood running out from behind the eyeball and down his face.

Hector raised his hand to trace the small amount of blood running down his face, he needed to ensure that Ram did not get Beatrice; who due to being a great spirit would uncover the possession nearly instantly. But Hector had prepared for such an occurrence, he had been observing and developing means for handling each member of Roswaal’s staff since the day they took up residence in this mansion. He knew Ram’s every weakness and just had to pull a few strings for her to play right into his hand. “Although it truuuuuuly warms my heart to seeeee how much genuine concern you hold for my wellllll being Ram, I am veryyyy busy working to handle the mess created at the royal selection by your juuuuunior. This injury is too minor to be worth disruptingggggg both my own work and Beaaaaaaatrice. However I would greatly appreciate it if youuuuu could do something for me insteaaaaad.”

Hector pulled on one of Ram’s weakpoints, her feelings for Roswaal that had gone unreciprocated for so long. Even if it was unlike Roswaal to say anything that could possibly be construed as romantic, you could always leave it to a teenager to take something out of context and make their head spin when the person in question is their love interest. Ram seemed to suddenly fall into a near daze or stupor as she took these kind words way too far and meekly managed to get out, “Ram will do anything for Roswaal-sama.”

Knowing that he was in the clear Hector wiped the tiny amount of blood from his face with a handkerchief and gave Ram her instructions, “I expect Subaru-kuuuun to return from the capital soon, when he does cooooould you send him up here, I feel that I must discipliiiiiine our wayward junior butler. Afteeeeer our meeeeeting you may deal with the ink stains I soooo carelessly made when I nooooded off.”

“If Roswaal-sama is tired Ram would be glad to ready a bath for him, Roswaal-sama shouldn’t push himself for someone as useless as Barusu.” But with a wave of his hand to indicate that he was not in the need of rest Ram curtseyed before leaving the room to carry out the instructions from the one she believed to be her master.

“Now Natsuki Subaru-kuuuuun, just when will you be making your entrance into this performance of mine.” Hector mused to himself as he sat back into his chair.

* * *

Emilia sat at the desk in her room, curtains drawn as she looked down at an open book on Lugunican history. She was supposed to be studying for the royal selection but she hadn’t turned the page in over an hour, occasionally reading the same few sentences over and over again. Her mind was still trapped on what happened in the capital between her and Subaru, he had been the first friend she had made; she thought he would have been able to treat her as a normal girl but in the end even he gave her special treatment. He had always gone way too far for her, getting himself beat up and hurt; he had never been able to keep his promises, all she asked was for him to stay in his room for a few hours until she returned from the royal selection, but he did not. Instead, Subaru broke his promise and snuck into the royal selection, making a speech that drew the ire of all the capitals knights without even realizing like a complete and utter dunderhead. He than once again got seriously injured after trying to duel one of the most skilled knights in the capital, his injuries would’ve been even worse had Emilia not intervened. But after all that when she asked why he did what he did, he made some cockamamie claim that it was all for her, that he was repaying her for when she saved him, something that never happened. After that she asked Subaru to stay away from her, he always pushed himself way too far when he was around her, always getting himself hurt and in lots of trouble, so it was for the best. But it was this statement, the statement that ended Emilia’s first friendship, the statement that made her so sad, so melancholic; that has led her to sitting at her desk feeling too sad to even do something as straightforward as reading a book.

“Lia, I know you’re upset but your emotional turmoil is trapping me in the crystal, I can barely even speak right now.” A voice echoed through her head, it was Puck; a great spirit who had contracted with her ever since she had thawed out in the elior forest, and the only other being who was unconditionally nice to her.

“Sorry Puck, I guess I just end up causing trouble for you too…..” Emilia said out loud with a heavy layer of self-loathing tainting her voice.

“What Subaru did back in the capital wasn’t your fault Lia, he acted like a complete idiot and got what he deserved. He promised you to stay out of the royal selection and then immediately broke that promise and karma got him for that; there was nothing more you could have done to stop what happened.” Puck said in a rather manner of fact voice, highlighting that he was missing the main point just ever so slightly.

“THAT’S WHATS BOTHERING ME PUCK!” Emilia shouted out at the incorporeal cat as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. “He’s the first person beside you to be nice to me, to not see me as some half-devil or monster that needs to be feared. I thought he even might be able to treat me as some normal girl, but even he had to give me special treatment! If I just wasn’t so useless, if I could just do a bit more on my own; maybe than he wouldn’t have felt the need to push himself too far for me and get hurt all the time. Maybe then he could’ve just treated me as a friend instead of some doll that needed to be protected………..” Emilia lamented to herself as she hoped to receive some comforting words from Puck, but nothing came.

Emilia looked down at the crystal that contained Puck, the crystal that she was accidently imprisoning him in with her emotional instability. “I only end up hurting the people who try to be nice to me, maybe I am really a devil…..” Tears began to roll down Emilia’s cheeks at the thought that maybe everyone who had spat insults or hurled rocks at her had been right.

_CRASH_

After a few minutes of crying to herself over how useless she was, how maybe everyone had been right about her being a devil, Emilia was brought back to reality by the loud crash of wood splitting. Although she wasn’t sure if Puck could even materialize, meaning that she was a spiritless spirit arts user, she still decided to head off to investigate the source of the disturbance. She hoped to the bottom of her heart to get a chance to show herself at least that she wasn’t a useless doll, that she could achieve something without Puck or someone else helping her.

* * *

The was sitting high in the sky as a badly beaten dragon carriage carrying a passenger in an even worse state pulled up to the front gates of the Roswaal Manor. Alone stood a red haired maid at the top of the steps, seemingly waiting for the carriages passenger while simultaneously being surprised at his arrival. However, as the carriage stopped her surprise shifted to shock at the sight of the passenger as she quickly rushed to the carriage.

The black-haired boy sat unconscious in the front seat, his breath ragged due to possessing several broken ribs and the associated lung damage caused by them. His outer appearance was not much better for his clothing was completely torn, shredded, and stained with blood from the assortment of cuts and scrapes made visible by his damaged clothing.

As the Oni maid climbed onto the bloodstained drivers bench to inspect her co-worker, her characteristic scowl was missing; what replaced it instead was a look of concern for the wellbeing of her only coworker at the mansion. She called his name, or more correctly the blinding curse she labelled him by to try if it would stir him to consciousness, “Barusu, Ram knows you’re lazy but you cannot just lounge like this in front of the mansion all afternoon, it’s unsightly with your current appearance.” When Subaru didn’t stir in the slightest at this remark Ram went one step further; she grabbed his arm and gently nudged it, only to for Subaru to shoot completely awake. His face was contorted in pain as he reached across with his other arm and grabbed it tightly, trying to hold it completely still.

Now that he was once again awake Ram hid any bit of concern by bringing back her characteristic scowl as she quickly backed off just ever so slightly to bring a bit more space between the two. As the pain seemed to recede and the boys face began to return to some state of normalcy Ram began ask the obvious before she’d bring him to her master Roswaal-sama.

“Barusu just how stupid was whatever antic you pulled for it to both ruin the fine clothes Roswaal-sama so graciously provided you; aswell as to harm you to this point?” However Subaru didn’t answer her question, instead it seemed that his mind descended into a haze like he was trapped in some terrible memory.

“I’m sorry Ram…….Rem’s dead, she tried to save me from the whale……..but it was too much for even her……..the fog…………I was just a burden for her……………she died so that I could get here.” As Subaru traversed this memory tears began to run down his face, mixing with the blood coming from the cuts on his forehead to dye most of the lower half of his face red.

But all Ram could do was stare at him with a look of confusion on her face, only one thought running through her mind that escaped her lips, “Barusu, who’s Rem?”

Upon hearing this the boy froze up, his muttering and crying stopped completely as he just stared at Ram in disbelief as if the words that left her mouth were the last thing he ever expected to hear. As Ram stepped down from the drivers bench to assist Subaru from the other side all he did was mutter more vague and meaningless words that made not the slightest bit of sense to Ram.

“I’m sorry Rem……..This loop has failed anyway……..I’ll need to restart anyways……….I should try to tell Emilia, nothing to lose at this point anyways……..” Subaru kept muttering these odd sentences as he accepted Ram’s assistance with his good arm, gradually stepping down the from the dragon carriage with the occasional jolt of pain causing his face to tense up just ever so slightly.

“Barusu I still don’t know who this Rem girl is, if she’s some whore who you paid to let you cry into her lap after you upset Emilia-sama, then I shall kindly ask you to not mention her in front of Roswaal-sama. Roswaal-sama has requested that you meet with him upon your return; unless you collapse in which case I shall sully myself to carry your disgusting self to Beatrice-sama first.” While Ram relayed Roswaal’s request to the boy his demeanor shifted once again.

“Roswaal? He’s here? That’s different from last time……..” Subaru seemed to calm down yet look perplexed at the same time when he heard that Roswaal was in the mansion, like he didn’t expect it for some reason.

“Barusu it seems you have somehow managed to hit your head hard enough to make yourself even stupider, if you could somehow harness your ability to become more and more useless to maintain the mansion than Ram wouldn’t need to lift a finger all day. As well why wouldn’t Roswaal-sama be here in his mansion, it’s his mansion, idiot Barusu.” Ram added a sharp _tsk_ at the end of her insults at the wonderment that was Subaru’s seeming stupidity. Subaru than hobbled into the mansion, towards Roswaal’s office with his one good arm over Ram’s shoulder so he didn’t collapse or fall on the way there.

* * *

As Ram half-supported and half-carried Subaru through the doors of Roswaal’s office he noticed several things were off about the room. Normally Roswaal kept his office as well as himself incredibly tidy, but what was in front of him was the exact opposite of tidy. The normal stack of papers that stood on Roswaal’s desk was strewn across the room were crumpled and in complete disarray as if they had been launched off his desk by some incredible force. Roswaal himself wasn’t much better, his persona of the refined yet comical magical clown lord was off kilter; his makeup was all smudged and even had some tear streaks through it; his clothes were all wrinkled from what looked like some kind of scuffle. Even his normal demeanor was off, when they’d entered the room it seemed like he had been impatiently pacing back and forth, further trampling the papers on the floor that he hadn’t even bothered to pick up. Subaru felt Ram’s body stiffen just ever so slightly at the sight of her master making it clear that she hadn’t been completely expecting this either.

As soon as they stepped into the office Roswaal had immediately turned to face them with a slightly crazed look in his eye causing Ram’s voice to audibly catch in her throat before she presented the two of them. “Roswaal-sama I have brought Barusu as you requested, however if Roswaal-sama requires time to collect himself Ram could take Barusu to Beatrice-sama for treatment first.” Ram bowed slightly at the end of their presentation to the mansions lord causing Subaru to wince as the slight movement caused pain to shoot through his broken ribs.

“Thaaaank you Ram but that wooooon’t be necessaaaaary, Subaruuuuuuu-kun and I will just be having a shooooooort chat.” Roswaal than gestured to the chair across his desk while he sat down in his normal chair. Ram did as instructed as she helped the badly injured Subaru into the office chair before departing the office.

“You seem surprised to seeeee me Subaru-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun, did this encounter perhaps not happen in your laaaaaast _loop_?” As these words left Roswaal’s lips he stared directly into Subaru’s eyes with a menacing yet mischievous gleam in his own.

“W-what did you just s-say Roswaaal?” Subaru sputtered as he stared at the clown before him in utter disbelief, disbelief that his secret of Return by Death was seemingly not a secret anymore.

“I know that you’ve beeeeeeeeeeen looping through time Subaru-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuun” The mischievous glare still holding strong in his eyes.

“Roswaal, how long have you known that I can loop, that I can Return by D…………..” Just as the last of the 3 magical words was about to leave Subaru’s lips time in the room seemed to stop; the room got substantially darker as shadows appeared out of nowhere to cloak the floors, walls and ceiling in darkness. Subaru felt a cold presence behind him, he felt her hand on his right shoulder, he felt her face right beside his own but didn’t dare look over to try and catch a glimpse of it. He felt a shadow reach inside his very chest before a massive pain shot through his body, overshadowing all the other pain from his other injuries by several orders of magnitude. The hand of shadow hand grasped his heart, but before he knew it the shadows and the pain were gone. She had once again reminded him that he still was forbidden from breaking the taboo, the taboo surrounding Return by Death.

As Subaru sat in the chair panting whilst still clutching his chest with his single functional arm, he looked up to see that Roswaal’s demeanor had undergone a complete shift. He was no longer staring at Subaru with a combination of menacing and mischievous intentions; now he sat there pinching his nose while he fanned the air, his face contorted into one of anger and annoyance as he scanned the room trying to find someone who was no longer there.

“Putrid. Disgusting. Rancid. Wretched. Obnoxious. Why must you defile this room with your horrid stench; I can only feel great sadness at the prospect of having to deal with you again after being free of your horrid presence for 400 years.” Roswaal proclaimed this angry declaration not at Subaru but instead to the room himself, like he was orating to an audience that wasn’t present before he refocused on Subaru inorder to speaking to him directly. “I can only feel down at how close you are to grasping the truth Subaru-kuuuun, but you are just slightly off. Yes the incompetent Roswaal knows you can loop, and yes I know you can loop, but I am not Roswaal; my name is Hector, Warlock of Melancholy and I believe you and I have the potential for a mutually beneficial relationship, Natsuki Subaru-kuuuuuuuuun, beloved of Envy.”

Subaru sat there shocked at all the revelations being revealed before him, not only did the man before him know about Return by Death, but Roswaal also knew; he’d potentially even known for quite some time. As well this man was claiming to be the Warlock of Melancholy, a male witch of some kind, like the Witch of Envy that had cursed him with such a cruel power. But Subaru’s thoughts were interrupted by Hector suddenly grasping onto the desk in pain with both hands.

“That damn clown just keeps getting in the way of my plans, he’s so annoying that his persistence makes me feel truly melancholic…..” Hector said this not with the tone of someone in pain, but instead with exasperation as if he was having to deal with some irritating fly. “Natsuki Subaru-kuuuun, I have an offer for you; if you are willing to carry my soul inside your body, if you are willing to do so in order to reunite me with my beloved; than I shall give you the full extent of my melancholy, I shall give you a power second only to Satella in her prime.” Hector than stood up and looked Subaru right in the eye while holding out his hand with his palm facing right towards Subaru.

Subaru timidly held out his hand in a similar fashion before hesitantly taking it back, he felt incredibly hesitant with the idea of trusting this man that he had just met mere moments ago to this extent. Seeing this Hector sighed before beginning to speak again, “Although it nearly brings a tear to my eye that you wouldn’t trust me, it does show me that you are no longer the naïve boy who first arrived at this mansion. Subaru-kuuuuun if you accept my offer, I will give you the power you need to become the hero that you wished you were when you first came to this world. I will make you so strong that no petty knight would dare oppose you, that no noble would dare berate the ones that you support. Natsuki Subaru if we join forces, if Envy and Melancholy work together than there isn’t a single being in this world that could possibly oppose us. It will be you who decides who shall sit on the throne of Lugunica, it will be you who saves those closest to you. All I ask is that you give me the chance to be with the woman I love just one more time, than all my power will be at your full disposal.” Hectors voice began with a very determined tone, appealing to Subaru’s desire to be the true isekai protagonist that he’d wished he’d been when he first arrived in Lugunica, but by the end of his speech he was pleading with Subaru to accept his offer, sounding almost like a desperate and broken man appealing to their last hope.

Some of Subaru’s worst memories flashed before his eyes, he remembered how he was beaten, ridiculed, and left behind after he proclaimed himself Emilia’s knight, after he couldn’t bare to hear her be belittled by the whole court for another second. He remembered the countless times Rem had died trying to save him from either the witches cult or the white whale, all because he was too weak to do anything but rely on her. Natsuki Subaru remembered all the times he’d been forced to rely on others to protect those close to them, and it was these memories that gave him the courage, the courage to become the hero he’d wished that he’d been when he was first isekai’d.

Subaru’s hesitation and timidness were replaced with a steeling of determination as he raised his palm to meet Hectors while staying “I accept.” A smile crossed Hectors face as he closed his fingers so they interlocked with Subaru’s, and that’s when Subaru felt a strange yet dark entity worm its way through the connection formed by their hands. It travelled up Subaru’s arm before seemingly nesting itself around his very heart where it throbbed and oozed until it seemingly encased the whole thing.

As if waking up from hypnosis, Hector left the body he’d inhabited and its original owner Roswaal regained control. Roswaal looked dazed at first but than his face contorted into anger as he looked down to see how his hand was connected to Subaru’s, after staring at their hands for a few more seconds his anger seemed to grow, to the point he began screaming at Subaru. “NATSUKI SUBARU DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU’VE DONE? Never mind, this timeline is already over; either you reset it back to a useable point or I will force you too.”

Roswaal clenched his hand that was interlocked with Subaru’s, unleashing his inhuman strength to a chorus of snapping and cracking sounds, the sound of the bones in Subaru’s hand being crushed like toothpicks. Subaru’s face contorted in pain as he screamed and tried to pull his hand from Roswaal’s, but Roswaal was too strong for Subaru to escape from, and Roswaal just repeated one line, “Reset the loop if you want the pain to stop Natsuki Subaru.”

Subaru could feel a presence in the back of his mind, it felt like a tiny string that tied his being to another; he could mentally reach through this connection almost like he was reaching out to touch this being but no matter what he did he was met with silence, Hector wasn’t going to help him through this.

Roswaal at this point had crushed Subaru’s hand into a bloody pulp that more closely resembled a ball of ground beef than a human hand. The pain was so great that Subaru felt a warm and smothering sensation spread throughout his body, like a gentle blanket it covered his consciousness as he slipped away from reality. The pain of having his hand crushed to the point of being nothing but a mass of bloody meat had been too much for Natsuki Subaru to take, and so his consciousness had retreated deep inside his mind, leaving his body defenseless and unmanned in the face of Roswaal’s machinations.

Subaru was suddenly jolted awake by the sensation of flying, he was flying through the air before impacting a hard wooden object, passing through what turned out to be the heavy oak door of Roswaal’s office with a deafening _crash_. Splinters flew everywhere, some impaling themselves into Subaru’s flesh, some flying harmlessly down the hallway, some being harmlessly shredded by a shield of wind that protected a certain pink haired Oni that had been waiting beside the door of her masters office.

Right before Subaru collided with the hallway wall his eyes met Ram’s, hers were open in surprise as they tracked his path through the air; he saw how her mouth hung open in shock when he slammed into the corridor wall with a resounding _crunch_. The thick wall of the corridor didn’t budge a single inch with Subaru’s impact as his back and remaining ribs snapped and cracked, further impaling and shredding his already damaged internal organs.

Subaru spat out blood as he struggled to breath with his now barely functional lungs as he watched Roswaal walk out towards him with one hand held out flat, horizontal to the floor with several small balls of mana floating above it. However, his approach was stopped by a call from Ram, completely shocked at the shear level of violence her master had employed against one of his own employee’s.

“Roswaal-sama, please don’t dirty your hands with Barusu’s blood; Ram knows that he screwed up badly but please consider Emilia-sama’s feelings before you do something drast……..” As Ram desperately pleaded with Roswaal in an effort to make him calm down she was abruptly stopped by Roswaal pointing his palm towards her, launching all the small balls of mana at her with an immense velocity.

An explosion rocked the whole mansion as Ram along with a large section of the wall was blown to smithereens by the sheer power of Roswaal’s raw mana being materialized. As the smoke cleared there was barely even a single trace of Ram left, had one of her bloody shoes not been visible hanging from one of the hedges in the garden than it would’ve been possible to assume that Ram hadn’t been caught in the explosion at all.

Subaru heard Roswaal mutter “Thank you for your service Ram” under his breath as he resumed his walk to the bloody mess that was Subaru. “Look at what you’ve caused Natsuki Subaru, it was as a result of your own actions that led Ram to die. Will you really allow such a timeline to exist where she has died? Restart the timeline.” Roswaal than lifted up Subaru’s broken body by the neck with a single hand until he was looking him right in the eyes. “Natsuki Subaru, you can undo all this madness; so fix it.”

However the tense atmosphere was broken by a teary voice that sounded similar to a bell, “Roswaal, Subaru…………what’s going on……..” The hallway went silent leaving only the crackling of a few flames and the pitter patter of Subaru’s blood dripping from his body before landing on the floor.

Subaru barely managed to turn to face Emilia, he tried to shout to her to run but all that attempt amounted to achieving was increasing the flow of blood from his mouth, which in turn caused Emilia to panic even more than she already was, further cementing her in place. Roswaal however simply raised a singly finger to point in her direction and with a shout of “Al Jiwald” a single bean of light originating from his finger slammed into the paralyzed Emilia, burning a hole right through where her heart would be. As her body fell to the floor all Subaru could do was stare at her face, a face frozen in grief and anguish at the sight of her benefactor brutally murdering her first friend. Not but a few seconds after her body hit the floor a frost began to quickly spread from her corpse, a ball of mana forming above her as Puck began to assume his beast of the end form so that he may attempt to freeze the world again.

Roswaal turned to face Suabru once again, his face looking calm for the first time since he discovered that Hector had left him, “Natsuki Subaru, this is your last chance to rewind time; otherwise you will die along with the rest of us in this timeline.” Said Roswaal.

Just as Roswaal finished speaking a deep voice boomed from The Beast of the End, “My daughter Lia lays dead due to your actions, perish in an icy grave along with the rest of this horrid world.”

Subaru and Roswaal both instantly froze solid as the world faded to black; with the telltale shadows beginning to engulf his body Subaru was once again sent back in time to try to save those he’d grown close to from certain death.


	2. Natsuki Subaru Decides to Give Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following his Return by Death Subaru wakes up a different person and makes some life changing decisions

It squirmed, wriggled, and writhed; it spread, no longer being content to merely encase his heart. It needed more, it desired to see, to hear, and to feel once again. It sought unity as it made its host very self, conform to the self it once had.

Natsuki Subaru felt it all happening, he felt the black mass spread up from his heart and into his brain, he felt as it found every nook and cranny, as it fused with his own sense of self. However, Natsuki Subaru did not fight it for his heart had already changed; for the colour had drained from his world and he no longer cared one damn bit about what happened to him or anyone else.

“The thought that I perished in another timeline is a truly melancholic idea, it nearly brings a tear to my eye. However since I am with you, Subaru-kuuuuuuuun it seems that another Hector successfully formed a contract with you in order to allow for my reunion with my beloooooved.” Hector’s voice echoed through Subaru’s mind, not seeming to originate from anywhere in particular but instead from all directions at once. Although the idea of someone else successfully looping with him would have normally made Subaru either jump with joy at no longer having to carry the burden alone, or breakdown in fear at what the jealous witch will do when she discovers it. However, Subaru was no longer the energetic and determined boy from before, for the contract with Melancholy had changed his very being right down to his soul.

“It’s a surprise for sure that the contract didn’t get overwritten Hector, how you managed that is beyond me; however it doesn’t really matter does it because I could just repeat the last loop and go back to the mansion if it didn’t. So in the end the contract holding doesn’t really matter, just like most things in life when the world is such a horrid place like this………” Subaru’s tone was no longer chipper and energetic, instead it was a mishmash of depression, apathy, and bitterness. He spoke like he didn’t care about a single thing going on around him, not out of free spiritedness but instead because he knew that no matter what horrid things would happen, struggling against them would only be a waste of effort.

“Such apathy, such sadness, such melancholy; you and I are more alike than I could ever have hoped for Subaru-kun. It does pain me when you underestimate my abilities like that however, I’m not some meager spirit whose contracts can be affected by something as petty as time. But now Subaru-kuuuun before we begin to build and execute the many plans to allow you to uphold your end of the contract I have but one question to aaaaaaask, what is it that you intend to do with the powers that I will grant you when the contract is fulfilled?”

Hectors voice echoed through Subaru’s head as he nearly answered out of habit, he nearly responded with, “to save Emilia and Rem.” But then he remembered, he remembered how Rem had tortured him, how she had killed him; all because of the miasma that followed him for reasons beyond his control. Subaru remembered how Emilia had abandoned him after he tried to stand up for her during the royal selection, how she had refused to trust him after all he had done for her. Subaru almost wanted to cry, he felt only despair and sadness at how his past self had blindly and willingly gone through such terror to save people who had only hurt him. The place in his heart where the love for those two girls had resided was gone, and in its place was a combination of bitter loathing for what they had done to him, and a depressing storm of disdain for the version of him who had been so willing to fight for them. And so the answer Natsuki Subaru gave to Hector was not what he nearly originally said, instead it was, “All I want is to go back home; I want to go back to my homeland beyond the great waterfall. At first I thought I would enjoy being in a new land, being given a chance to have a new life. However, it wasn’t what I expected at all, I ‘ve been suffering so much since I came here that I just want to curl up and cry. Everyone I’ve put my trust in since the day I got here as either used, manipulated, or abandoned me when it seemed convenient for them, I want to leave all of it behind and get to see my family again. I want to go back so badly I can barely think of anything else, being here makes me so sad that I can barely keep it together; I’ve only suffered here, I’ve suffered so much that I could just lay down and cry, and cry, until my tears created a lake deep enough for me to drown in. So please let me be free from this wretched place, let me be happy again, let me know something other than melancholy.” Subaru’s voice started off bitter, so bitter that it gave them impression that he hated the people he thought of with every fiber of his being, but as it trailed towards the end it gave off the impression of a depressed boy who’d lost all hope in the world, who’d give anything just to be happy again.

“So you’ve given up on championing the cause of Emilia, the useless doll who needs others to do everything for her? I cannot say I blame you Subaru-kuuuuuuuun, to be fight so hard for someone only to be cast aside by them the second you become inconvenient is truly heartbreaking. Given your new opinions wouldn’t you say it be best to align yourself with another camp, their resources could be useful in achieving our goals…..” Subaru suddenly cut off Hector, the idea presented to him caused a flood of memories to come back, along with the sadness and bitterness associated with them. He remembered how Priscilla had asked him to abandon his pride for her help, only to kick and berate him when he did. He remembered how Anastasia had wrung him dry of any useful bit of information before hinting where he could find a single carriage. He remembered how Crusch had got him to admit that he’d rather the Emilia camp be indebted and withdraw from the race; only to then refuse to help save Emilia because she didn’t like his attitude towards saving her. Although Subaru felt some bitterness towards their actions, the memories mainly brought an overwhelming sense of sadness. Sadness that he once had to beg for help from useless, conniving, manipulative pieces of trash; he knew now that would never ever place himself in a position of having to serve or work for them again.

“I want nothing to do with the royal selection whatsoever, I won’t even consider approaching one of those damn fakes with the intent of a partnership of any kind. The only way I could ever even consider working with them at all is if they approach me with some humility and respect, if they can treat me as an equal without being condescending, then I might consider some kind of partnership; but under absolutely no circumstance will I join another camp and get sucked into the royal selection again. And if I ever get the slightest hint that they are trying to exploit me to an extent unequal to the benefit I gain than I’ll end everything right then and there.” But just as Subaru finished his declaration he finally tuned back into the real world, the whole time that he’d been talking to Hector he had actually been back at his old save point, in front of the appa man with Rem.

“Subaru-kun, Subaru-kun, Subaru-kun are you okay? Can you hear Rem?” Rem was frantically shaking Subaru as she stood in front of him with her hands on his shoulders. After blinking a few times Subaru turned to face Rem, seeing that her eyes were full of tears, her face almost looked desperate as she continued to try and get his attention.

“You can stop shaking me Rem, I was just thinking.” Subaru replied in a cold and uncaring voice as he simply looked at her as if waiting for an explanation for her behavior.

“But Subaru-kun was just standing there mumbling to himself, mentioning names like ‘Hector’ that Rem has never heard of. A-And…” Rem than stopped a bit as she choked on her words, struggling to believe what she was about to say next. “It sounded like Subaru-kun was considering leaving Roswaal-sama’s service……….” Rem just look at Subaru as she waited for him to deny what he had said, but Subaru didn’t seem the slightest bit surprised.

“Uhhh yeah that’s right Rem, I guess we should talk about that.” Just as Subaru’s voice was flat and monotone, his mannerisms completely lacked energy as if all the joy in life had left him.

“If yer going to be having some heart to heart talk please move, I’ve got costumers to serve and you two are scaring em all away, shoo!” The appa man shouted from behind Rem, watching them walk off as Subaru led Rem by the hand away from the crowded market.

“What happened to ya kid, it’s like the lights just turned off inside ya all of a sudden….” The appa man exclaimed as he watched the two of them leave, wondering where the energetic and excited boy he first met had gone.

* * *

Rem followed Subaru as they walked in silence up to an empty balcony overlooking the capital, Rem trailed a few steps behind Subaru as she almost didn’t recognize him anymore since his mumbling ended. The Subaru who came back seemed to lack all joy in life, his motions and words lacked all energy, his normal quirks and mannerisms were completely gone; his behavior reminded Rem of how she felt when she thought of how she ruined her sister Ram’s life………

Subaru had stopped at the edge of the balcony, his body blocking the sun so it highlighted his hair as it gently blew in the breeze; if Rem’s heart wasn’t in her throat due to anxiety she’d have been drooling over how picturesque her hero looked. But her heart was in her throat, she could barely even speak because of how anxious she was; if Subaru actually was going to leave Roswaal’s employ than that would likely end their time together and this would be the last image she had of him.

Subaru turned around to now face Rem, his face drooping slightly as his dead and empty eyes glared right into Rem’s causing her to flinch slightly. Subaru’s shoulders were rolled forward as he slounched ever so slightly, he looked like he had a giant raincloud hanging over his head, bags had seemed to appear under his eyes in the mere ten’s of minutes it took to walk to the balcony. If someone were to see Subaru now they would assume that he was incredibly run down, the dull drab voice that emanated from his mouth as he began to speak would reinforce that idea. “Rem, I’m done with the Royal Selection, I loathe it with every bit of my heart; I wish I never got involved and so I’m ending my involvement right here right now. So Rem, this is goodbye I guess.” Subaru than tried to walk past Rem in order to leave her on the balcony but Rem wasn’t going to let him leave so easily as she sidestepped to keep herself in front of Subaru, blocking his path.

“Wait Subaru-kun this isn’t like you, the Subaru-kun Rem knows wouldn’t just walk away from something like this. Please talk to Rem about what’s bothering you Subaru-kun, something is obviously wrong so let Rem help you!” Rem balled her hands into fists as she brought them close to her chest, a sense of determination overpowering her previous anxiety, she was going to help her hero like he helped her.

“Rem, making me put in more effort than necessary is seriously making me sad; if I could’ve just walked away in the street I would’ve, so please just let me go…….” Subaru sounded exasperated as he said this, highlighting that having to go through the effort to explain this to Rem was actually a monumental task for him.

“Subaru-kun there’s better ways to go about this than giving up on everything you’ve achieved so far, when we get back to the mansion Rem can go with you to ask Roswaal-sama about changing your duties. Subaru-kun could be strictly a butler and not accompany Emilia-sama on Royal Selection work, Rem can handle all of Subaru-kun’s work that could involve the Royal Selection so Subaru-kun can just enjoy a simple life!” Rem got more and more excited as she laid out her plan, expecting Subaru to see her logic and praise her for sorting out his problems.

“Rem, your missing so much that I might actually cry; my issues with the selection aren’t strictly political. I done with the camp itself; I loathe having to deal with every single member, everyone used me, exploited me, and then Emilia tossed me aside after I screwed up once, after everything I’d done. The only thing I can feel about the whole situation is melancholy, such intense melancholy that I could drown in it; if I were to go back to the mansion, I’d be drowning in a sea of sadness too deep to ever leave.” Subaru’s tone changed, it was no longer flat and empty, it was a drudgery to Rem’s ears as it emanated nothing but pure depression, his eyes no longer met Rem’s but instead looked straight into the ground.

Although Rem should’ve been overjoyed that Subaru’s emotional walls were coming down, it was breaking her heart to see how sad he was. Hearing how low and depressed his voice was, seeing what looked like tears beginning to form in his eyes; all of it almost made Rem want to let him go, almost. But Rem wouldn’t give up on her hero, she’d pick him up just like how he helped her up. “Subaru-kun being sad doesn’t suit you! What happened to being fanatical like a demon, what happened to us talking about the future, what happened to the hero that saved me in the forest? Subaru-kun now isn’t the time to sit down and give up, let Rem help you, let Rem face your problems with you!”

Rem had the biggest smile plastered on her face as she tried to encourage her hero to share his burdens with her, she wanted to be there for him as he battled his own demons, with a demon who wanted to be his. But when Subaru looked up at her eyes once again, his were no longer teary and depressed, but instead were stone cold as they looked at her with nothing but bitterness. “Stupid. Hypocritical. Despicable. Obsessive. Weak. Why can’t you just take the hint Rem, why can’t you just accept that I don’t want the slightest thing to do with any of you, why do you just have to keep clinging to me? Why can’t you just accept that I don’t want to be around you or anyone else at the mansion anymore? Why can’t you just let me go?” Subaru’s voice got more and more incensed as his bitterness began to burn and boil into a storm inside him that was beginning to border on shear rage.

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU SUBARU-KUN” Rem shouted out her confession of love as the tiniest of tears formed in her eyes, “I can’t stand the idea of you leaving Subaru-kun, since you saved me in the forest my hearts gone crazy whenever I’m around you. When I see you sleeping peacefully in your bed I’d want nothing more than to join you, I want to feel the warmth of your body, I want the first thing I see every morning to continue to be your face, I want the last thing I see at night to be your face. But now your changing Subaru-kun, you’re changing and about to go to a place that Rem can’t follow; so please Subaru-kun don’t leave Rem behind!” Rem had grabbed onto Subaru’s shoulders as tears began to run down from her eyes, as she poured her heart out for all to see, as she hoped in desperation that her feelings would at least keep Subaru from leaving.

“HYPOCRITICAL. CREEPY. VAIN. PITIFUL. USELESS. IF YOU WON’T GET THIS THROUGH YOUR THICK FUCKING SKULL THEN I DON’T KNOW WHAT WILL REM?” Subaru shouted in an outburst of pure rage while tears flew from his eyes in antithesis to the flames of his anger burning in his heart. He grabbed Rem’s arms which were still holding onto his shoulders and threw her away from him.

“hrrrrrrk” Rem stumbled back before falling to the ground, too shocked to even try and catch herself. Tears began to run from her eyes as Subaru’s rant built and escalated into a complete rage filled tangent. He looked completely crazed as he shouted in pure mania with tears freely flowing from his eyes.

“I can’t take it, the audacity you have, the hypocrisy, its just too sad! But its also real fucking cute for you to even dare to proclaim love for me after you were willing to kill me simply because I smelled bad; Roswaal even told you to only observe but you were planning to murder me behind the backs of both your sister and master, weren’t you?” Rem began to full on sob as she continued to sit crumpled on the floor, not just because of the shear harshness of the words but also because she knew that what he was saying was true. She racked her brain, grasped at straws, trying to think of anything that could stop her dear Subaru-kun from leaving her; her mind clasped onto a name. She didn’t want to resort to it, especially after her confession had achieved nothing but if it made him stay it would be worth it.

With her voice shaky Rem managed to force out the words between sobs as her tears ran down, dampening parts of her dress as if they were rain drops. “W-What about …….sob…….Emilia-sama?”

Subaru froze when he heard her name, his fists balled up and his jaw clenched, “SHE’S THE WORST OUT OF THE WHOLE BUNCH OF YOU! THAT DAMN USELESS DOLL WHO NEEDS SOMEONE TO HOLD HER HAND EVERY FUCKING STEP OF THE WAY, IF SHE GETS LEFT ALONE FOR ONE DAMN SECOND SHE GOES AND LOSES HER ROYAL SEAL OR BLINDLY WALKS INTO A HOUSE TO DIE! WHAT MAKES IT EVEN MORE MELANCHOLIC IS THAT SHE’LL TOSS YOU ASIDE IF YOU DARE TO GET HURT TO TRY AND HELP HER, ‘OHH THANK YOU FOR STOPPING ME FROM GETTING BELITTLED AND RIDICULED BUT I THINK I’M BAD FOR YOU SO I THINK YOU AND I SHOULD PART WAYS HERE.’ HONESTLY ITS JUST SO FUCKING DEPRESSING TO DEAL WITH HER, SHES BOTH FUCKING HELPLESS BUT ALSO HATES GETTING HELP. SO REM IF YOU WANT ONE FUCKING THING TO TAKE PRIDE IN, TAKE PRIDE IN HOW YOU’RE ATLEAST LESS OF A PROBLEM THEN THAT GODDAMN HALF DEVIL!” With his rant over Subaru wiped the tears from his eyes and simply left Rem alone on the balcony. Rem grabbed the hem of his pants in an effort to keep him from leave, but Subaru simply kicked away her hand as he continued to walk; leaving Rem behind to continue to bawl her eyes out alone on the balcony.

* * *

“ Hic……What happened to you Subaru-kun…….hic” Rem trudged down the road leading to the Karsten mansion sobbing as her mind was still stuck on her last talk with Subaru a few hours ago. Her face was puffy and red from how she’d been bawling nonstop since being berated by the man she loved. What made it even worse for her was how he wasn’t even wrong with some of the things he said, she did really want to kill him when she thought he was a witch cultist; but then he saved her, he showed her how he was too kind and gentle to be a vile cultist, she even began to love him for all of it. But the man that had been there on the balcony wasn’t kind and gentle, but mean and spiteful. Even before his outburst he hadn’t seemed right, Subaru had stood there mumbling to himself for several minutes and when he finally came back to reality it was like he saw the world in a completely different way. Subaru had simply looked at everything with an empty pair of eyes that showed nothing except sadness.

“Rem-chan what’s wrong?!?” Rem followed the delicate pair of arms that had placed themselves on her shoulders until her teary eyes met with those of Felix Argyle, Crusch’s knight. Felix stood on the front steps of the Karsten mansion with a genuine look of worry on his face as he looked down at her.

“GONE, SUBARU-KUNS GONE!” Rem shouted as she enveloped the knight in an embrace, her tears flowing heavily enough to begin to soak the knight’s jacket, not caring in the slightest that she barely knew him and how he might react. Felix tensed up when he heard this as he assumed the worst, thinking that Subaru had dropped dead from some unknown ailment that he’d missed while repairing his gate.

“What do you mean he’s gone Rem-chan, is Subaru-kyun…..dead?” Felix’s voice hung on the last of his words, fearing that he’d failed as a healer and lost a patient due to his own negligence; even if he didn’t particularly like Subaru it was still something that would weigh on his mind for time to come.

Hearing his words Rem began to cry harder as she processed the idea of having to see Subaru die right in front of her, but feeling the knights tension rise even higher she did her best to calm down and clear the misconception. “No…. Subaru-kun isn’t dead, he’s leaving Emilia-sama’s camp, Rem won’t ever get to see him again……..” Although Rem had managed to contain her sobbing, her voice still quivered and threatened to break again at any moment as she vocalized the thought that had been plaguing her mind.

“Oh, I see; men can be such wolves sometimes Rem-chan so you shouldn’t give them your heart so easily, they’ll just take it and smash it to pieces, especially immature boys like Subaru-kyun.” Felix’s tensions eased up now that he knew it was just the boy continuing to run his own reputation even further through the mud.

“The Subaru-kun who said that wasn’t the Subaru-kun who saved Rem………..” Rem paused as she recalled the painfully recent memory, as well as the memories of her hero that she cherished so dearly. “The Subaru-kun who just gave up didn’t seem like Subaru-kun at all, he acted like everything in the world just made him sad; Rem didn’t see a hint of his normal energetic and happy antics at all. Subaru-kun only got bitter and angry when Rem mentioned all his friends back at the mansion, Subaru-kun didn’t even swoon when Rem mentioned Emilia-sama, he screamed about how much he hated her. Rem even confessed that she loved Subaru-kun and his cute awkward self wasn’t even there! Normally if Rem gets just a little too close to Subaru-kun he starts acting funny and gets a bit flustered; but he only shouted at Rem about how funny it was for Rem to feel that way after I seemed like I wanted to kill him when we first met……” Rem took a deep breath before delivering her last observation to the now intrigued looking healer, “It was like something happened while he was just standing in the market, he was lost in thought mumbling about stuff that didn’t make any sense to Rem; when he came to it was like Rem’s Subaru-kun was gone and replaced by a different person in Subaru-kun’s body…..” Rem still felt really hurt by his words, guilty of her own feelings towards someone who she considered killing, but now there was also an immense sense of worry for what happened to Subaru-kun to make him act like he did. She knew that her hero couldn’t have changed that much just because of what happened between him and Emilia, but Rem’s thoughts were interrupted by an old man exiting the mansion behind Felix.

“Has something happened Felix-dono? Why does our guest seem to be in such distress?” Wilhelm directed his questions while he eyed Rem with a puzzled look on his face.

“It seems Subaru-kyun said some very mean things to Rem-chan before withdrawing himself from Emilia-sama’s camp. Rem-chan said that he’d been acting very weird before he did any of these things; with that look on your face, you don’t happen to know anything about this Old Man Will?” Felix cocked his head to the side as he posed this question to Wilhelm, who himself seemed to be recalling something as he just looked at the sky for a second before returning his gaze to the pair before him.

“Subaru-dono departed the mansion with his belongings a few hours ago, I do believe something seemed a bit different with his mannerisms and aura. Although I can’t say I know the boy well, it does surprise me too to think that he would take such an action as well.” Wilhelm could only look disappointed as he thought about the path that this young boy could be setting himself down for the future.


	3. Natsuki Subaru's New Life Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Subaru takes the steps necessary to begin his new life away from the influence of the camps, but Hector seem's to believe that some level of interaction with the candidates is necessary, not for him but for Subaru

As the sun fell the sky took on a rich crimson hue, a hue that complimented the pinkish tinge that had overtaken the eyes of a blue haired Oni who stood by the gate of the Karsten mansion. Although Rem had tried to keep her sadness of the day’s events contained within, the process of packing up both her own things alongside the belongings Subaru had left behind had ensured that her heart remained in a state of turmoil. What had been the worst was when she found that Subaru had left his tailored butler uniform behind, reaffirming his previous statements that he was not planning on coming back to them.

“Rem-chan, I’m sure Crusch-sama wouldn’t mind you staying the night, it’s getting really late and you aren’t in any condition to travel.” Felix said this with a look of genuine concern on his face, turning his head towards Crusch as she nodded in agreement with his assumption.

“Felix is right Rem-san, it’s both dangerous to travel at night and your wits are not with you. Emilia-san and I had an agreement to board both you and that boy until his healing is complete, and although he broke that agreement with his actions, I still will not willingly throw someone innocent in my care to the wolves. So, Rem-san do not feel compelled to leave because of any such reason, if you don’t feel up to the journey yet please stay another night and head back in the morning.” Crusch spoke with a stern tone yet looked at Rem with a sense of pity in her facial expressions; relating to an extent with the trauma the maid was going through after having her heart broken. However, when Crusch referenced Subaru using the term “boy” in place of his name, she nearly sneered in disgust as she loathed the weak, cowardly, and arrogant existence he had become.

“Rem is deeply grateful for your concern and hospitality, and in Roswaal-sama’s place I would like to thank you for such.” Rem curtseyed as she said this before continuing, “However Rem believes that given what has occurred with a member of his staff that Roswaal-sama would want Rem to return with utmost haste. Rem is also immensely grateful that you have allowed her to borrow a dragon carriage for her journey, Rem is certain that Roswaal-sama will arrange for its immediate return.” Rem than bit her lip as she struggled to say what she wanted to next, a few tears ran down her eyes as her words caught in her chest; what came next was more of a desperate plea as Rem’s stream of consciousness exited through her mouth, absent of all the tact normally expected from a maid. “But please don’t blame Subaru-kun, Rem begs you. Subaru-kun wasn’t acting like himself when he said all those mean and hurtful things to Rem, when he left Roswaal-sama’s employment and abandoned Rem on the balcony; it was like Rem didn’t recognize Subaru-kun. So just please show Subaru-kun some leniency in your thoughts and actions should you encounter him again….” Rem hung her head as she finished, realizing how unprofessional and unsightly her outburst must have seemed.

Crusch winced ever so slightly as she heard Rem’s outburst as she closed her eyes for a few seconds to allow herself to regain her calm before speaking in a voice that held an odd juxtaposition of being calm yet stern, understanding yet disappointed; like she was delivering a lecture related to a past that still haunted her. “Rem-san, I cannot under any circumstance honor your last request. The boy that you speak of represents everything about mankind that I despise, it is because too many people in our kingdom act and behave like he did that we are so reliant on the covenant with the divine dragon. It is because many here are arrogant about their own abilities that we cannot grow in strength to allow us to rise out from under the dragon’s wing, we cannot leave its protective shade to claim our own place in the sun. It is because many here burn with envy for others that we distract ourselves with trivial pursuits while ignoring the bigger issues ahead of us. It is because of our own pride that we cannot accept the blame for our own actions, leading us to blame others which prevents us from growing through our struggles, forcing us to exist as pawns for a dragon that could not care less about us. Rem-san, Natsuki Subaru is the embodiment of every sin of our kingdom that I’ve mentioned alongside countless others that I have not; if you’ll only take one piece of advice from me, take this; Natsuki Subaru is only going to be a harmful influence on you and anyone around him in the future, so please don’t blindly chase after him.”

Rem’s face grew cold as she listened to Crusch’s words about her hero, even if he had berated her and behaved in a disgusting manner, she would never give up on him. And so, Rem once again curtseyed and thanked Crusch’s party before her, just this time in a cold methodical manner only done as per courtesy before departing for Roswaal’s mansion.

* * *

“So, Subaru-kuuuun now that you’ve retrieved your possessions from that depressingly excessive manor what do you have in stooooore for us?” Hector spoke to Subaru from within his mind using his normally depressed tone that conflicted with his somewhat playful verbal tick, that at least had sounded playful when it came from Roswaal.

As Subaru walked down the street away from the Karsten mansion with a gait that made him look like he’d barely managed to get out of bed, he responded to Hector. Occasionally a passerby would give Subaru an odd look as part of his conversation leaked out, but these were either ignored or met with his own empty and dead eyes. In his hands was the single thing Emilia had left him, her identity hiding cloak, and it was this item that would prove critical to Subaru’s immediate goal, to secure himself a new life in Lugunica. “Sadly in this world we require money to get by, without it I’d either die of exposure or starve; to make matters worse I only brought a small portion of my saved wages with me to the capital. Without more money I doubt I could afford to get by for more than a few days, although the idea of selling myself out as a wage slave to society certainly isn’t a happy one, but it’s better than dumpster diving for scraps of food as I slowly starve to death in some back alley.” Subaru’s own tone was flat and melancholic, barely changing as the words left his mouth.

“An existence as a vagrant is disgusting, agonizing, the very thought of it leeches away my spirit, if I haaaaaaad to watch something like that through your eyes, I might just have to end you to ease my own suffering. However I’m assuuuuuuuming that the cloak you have there would prevent both of those possible outcomes since you went through the trouble of retrieving it?” Hector’s voice didn’t change in the slightest even as he off handedly mentioned killing them both in order to prevent himself from having to live through a vagrant; the complete lack of inflection making it impossible to discern whether this was a joke, or if it was a genuine threat.

“Honestly I wouldn’t mind in the slightest if you killed me should we fall into a hole like that, but yes the cloak should prevent that from happening. It’s some kind of metia or enchanted item that prevents the wearer from being recognized, the half-devil threw it at me right before she stormed off to leave me in the capital, it should fetch a decent price.” Subaru himself didn’t seem overly caring about being executed by Hector, nor was there any hint of past fondness when he referred to Emilia as a half-devil; his voice remained ever flat and unchanging besides the slight tones of bitterness that sept into it into it.

Subaru had begun walking down somewhat familiar roads at this point, it was part of the path he’d travelled with Emilia during his first loop with her when they headed through the slums; and now this path would also be the beginning of his journey through this world without her.

“Back in my homeland of Japan I was a shut-in, I avoided contact with most people and stayed in my room all day avoiding both school and any kind of work. Back then I found it kinda sad, but in a way it made me kinda happy, not having to really worry about too much, not having to deal with anything too serious; just coasting through life. I would honestly give just about anything to get to go back to that life, but while I’m here I’m not going to break my back as I work for a pittance trying to get by. I plan to take some of the money from this cloak and use it to construct some things from my homeland, I’ll sell them to make enough to get by. Although having to labor through the day at all isn’t a good thought, at least this’ll mean that I won’t have to work under someone’s whip.” Subaru’s voice emitted just the tiniest bit of warmth as he spoke of his time back in Japan, before growing cold once again as the topic returned to labor.

“If I remember correctly from what you toooooold Roswaal, you lived with your parents before you caaaaaaame here, did you enjoy their presence or was it ……. _melancholic_?” Hector paused slightly before saying “melancholic” with a bit of extra emphasis, giving it an ominous feel.

“Overall I enjoyed living with them, my dad made me feel utterly inferior in regards to all aspects of life; but he and my mom did their best to give me a happy life, and for that I’m grateful to them. By the way Hector, I know nearly nothing about you yet you seem to know a fair bit about me….” Subaru’s voice was still tinged with fondness as he recalled his parents, it would not have been an out of place response should he have given it weeks or months ago. Even as he continued towards other topics he seemed almost like his old self, like the cloud of melancholy around him had slightly abated.

“My past is one that only brings me sadness and despair to recall, if possible I would want to forget nearly every single moment of it besides the memories of one person. However the idea of leaving out the one who has agreed to aid me would be, distasteful; so I shall tell you later today when we are finished with our other business. On thaaaat note I believe we must discuss our approach to the other candidates, for their assistance would greatly ease our task, and we can both agree that excessive toil towards a task caaaaan only bring sadness to one’s heart.” Briefly images of a women dressed in black and a middle aged man with a big bushy beard flickered through Subaru’s vision as Hector seemingly shared tiny pieces of his memories unintentionally, but just as soon as they appeared, they were gone.

The second he heard this melancholy and bitterness returned once again to Subaru’s demeanor, the fond memories of his life in Japan faded as those of his earlier tribulations replaced them. “Although I agree that I’d rather not work my ass off if it can be avoided; I’m not bowing down before any of those damn girls to beg them for a favor of any kind.” Subaru spat this back at Hector as he crossed a small bridge over a stream, bringing him into the slums. “Like I said before, I’d be willing to work with some of them if it could be on an equal or better footing; either I trade something and directly get something back or they come to me with a request and offer something in exchange; I will not be some underling who has to beg their master for scraps, not anymore.”

“It pains me with how obvious the solution is, just find something they desire and trade that to them for what we need. As someone who can loooooop through time, looking into the future and returning to the preseeeent to offer exactly what they seek should not be toooo hard for you. Although I shoooould admit that my own memory seeeeemed to have been reset from when you loooooped through time with me, as I can’t exactly remember meeting you at all prior to a few hours ago.” Although Hector’s ignorance over the specific mechanics of Return by Death resulted in a plan that would certainly result in death for Subaru, it also meant that Subaru did not have to worry about being punished by the jealous witch for unwillingly revealing it when he died to Puck, which had been a slight worry in Subaru’s mind ever since he met Hector.

“Hmmm, I guess that would be the most straightforward way to get what we want……..Then the question becomes who, and what do we find for them.” Subaru’s voice slightly trailed as he understood the gravity of the suggestion, committing suicide once he had the information he needed; however he seemed to simply dismiss his qualms with the idea as he further questioned how to execute the plan in question.

“Well let us start with our dear half-elf Emilia………” Hector began to speak but was quickly cut off by Subaru.

“No never, under no circumstance do I want anything to do with her. The mere thought of her depresses me, like my very heart is flowing out of my body; the very idea of having to deal with that irritating half-devil makes me distraught, it crushes my very soul. So no, I would rather die before I would willingly even see her again, or at least I’d prefer if she just dropped dead so the very possibility of having to see her again was zero.” Subaru was vehemently irate at the idea of having to even work with Emilia again, even if it were on a standing that would be acceptable to him if she were another candidate.

“So noisy, so rude, to interrupt your partner like that, it depresses me, it makes me lose heart.” Subaru began to feel a pressure build around him, the literal air felt like it got heavier as Hectors rant built. ” Why can’t you just be more considerate of others? Why must you be so noisy, so annoying, why can’t you just wait a few seconds to let me finish before objecting?” Cracks started to form in the pavement around Subaru as he was beginning to have trouble standing, the pressure on his body was slowly building up higher and higher. “Buuuut I can emphasize with what you must feel when the prospect of working with her was brought up; after what she did to you, I can say that I might’ve reacted similarly.” As these words left Hector’s mouth Subaru could feel his surroundings return to normal, the pressure around him dissipating. “From Roswaaaaaal’s research I can say the two most likely candidates for you to be ableeeee to leverage would be Crusch Kaaaaarsten, and Anastasia Hoshin. As you probably know Suuuuubaru-kun, Anastasia is incredibly greedy and as such would probably be willing to do just about anything should she staaaand to sufficiently profit from it. Crusch Karsten is likely to now hold a raaather poor view of you, more severe compared to the other candidates as a result of your recent actions; however I believe that she wouldn’t turn you away over that should she see you as essentiaaaaal to a plan of hers. Aaaaas for Priscilla and Felt, Roswaaaal laaaacked enough information to build a personality fiiiiile of any use; so we should focussssss on thooooose two for now.”

“Although I can’t disagree with what you’ve said, why exactly do we even need their help? You haven’t even told me how exactly I’m going to reunite you with this person, if its just travelling there I doubt it would take too long to get enough money to charter a carriage.”

“It’s not for my goal Subaru-kuuuuuuun, its for yours, from the disgusting presence of the miasmaaaaaaaa that _she_ placed on you, I think that we caaaaaan certainly use all the help that we caaaan get; even if it’s for nothing more thaaaan some fodder.” As Hector finished Subaru pushed open the doors of a dilapidated shop in the slums, the inside the building appeared incredibly rundown. There were holes in the walls and ceiling, some of the paint was peeling off, and it was absolutely packed with stuff ranging from small trinkets to clothing.

“Buying or selling?” An old man with a large and bushy grey beard croaked from behind the counter.

“Both” responded Subaru in a flat and empty voice.

The old man briefly eyed the boy, taking note of how his eyes appeared empty and devoid of life; how his face showed nothing other than how he appeared downcast and rundown. The old man then cleared off a portion of the counterspace before motioning for Subaru to place what he had for sale down on it. Subaru approached the counter and placed Emilia’s cloak down alongside his own tracksuit jacket.

“You’re selling your own memento to Japan Subaruuuuuu-kun?” Hector communicated with him telepathically.

“I stand out too much with it on, I’d rather blend in from now on, and I can just get a new one when I’m back in Japan.” Subaru replied back to Hector without a single hint of emotional attachment to his once beloved tracksuit but was immediately interrupted by the old man.

“Eh Sonny can ya please speak up, I can’t hear what you’re saying” The old man nearly shouted at Subaru as it became apparent to Subaru that he must have been mumbling out his response to Hector alongside saying it within his mind.

“Never mind, I’m here to sell this enchanted cloak and a more regular jacket. The cloak makes it nearly impossible to recognize the wearer, if you put it on you can still be seen but nobody will know who they are seeing.” Subaru then demonstrated the cloaks affect much to the shop keeper’s amazement before he returned it to the table and motioned to his jacket. “This jacket is from a land far, far to the east of here; it’s made from cloth not available here so it should still have some value even if it’s a bit rundown.”

“5 Holy Coins” Said the old man, but Subaru did not even respond as he grabbed the cloak and jacket on the counter before turning to leave the store.

“Wait 6, no 7 holy coins!” The old man reached out for Subaru with an outstretched hand, grasping his shoulder in order to prevent him from leaving.

“7 and an introduction to a landlord; and please let go of me, having my person assaulted like that is, _distressing._ ” Subaru’s voice remained cold and level as he spoke, he turned back around and placed the articles of clothing back on the counter in front of the store man. As he palmed the coins the man handed to him something caught his eye. Hanging across a chair was a long, worn, and dark jacket; Subaru turned back to face the man and while pointing at the jacket asked, “How much for that?”

The old man simply said “On the house” with an extremely energetic voice, he was obviously going to make a killing off reselling the enchanted cloak and was thus absolutely ecstatic. As Subaru was walking over to pick up the replacement for his track suit jacket the old man said, “just give me a minute and I’ll walk ya over to Karl’s building, he should have a place vacant for ya.”

* * *

Subaru stood inside his new home, or more correctly the single room that constituted his new home. On one side of the room there was a box with a metal grate as its lid, inside it contained a single fire crystal that would generate enough heat to let him cook food, beside it was a small pile of cookware that was not arranged in any particular order. As well the room contained a single rolled up mat and blanket which would have to stand in for a proper futon; alongside this was a single knee-high table with barely enough surface area to hold a single meal. There was a single bathroom and washing area for this floor of the building. From the other units Subaru had walked by, everything in this building was pretty run down. His own room was incredibly dark, the only light coming from a single window that faced towards the richer district of the city. There were holes in the walls that exposed some of the structural supports, as well as small mice holes at ground level that occasionally had a small critter or two emerge, before they quickly scurried back into the building’s walls. The room even had an odd smell to it, it was a damp, earthy smell that one would commonly associate with mold.

“Disgusting, horrid, decrepit, depressing, nothing like home……..” Subaru lamented as he moved to look out of the only window in room. As he surveyed the cityscape his eyes landed on one building off in the far distance, the Karsten manor. They were pretty far away, far enough that he wasn’t able to make out the details of the tiny specks that were moving in a frenzy all around the front yard of the manor. But as he stood watching them for a few minutes all the small hairs on his arms and legs suddenly stood on end as his flesh became prickled with goosebumps; he felt like he was being watched and as he focused harder to try and find the source of his bodies alarm his eyes finally settled on it. There was one single speck standing completely still amid the hustle and bustle of the Karsten manor; the speck’s colour was a mixture of jet black and grey, and from what Subaru could make out, it was staring straight at him.

Subaru stood back from the window as he realized that he had certainly been noticed by someone from the Karsten manor, but unless this person possessed near superhuman vision there was no possibility that he could be identified. Since both his wardrobe and silhouette had changed mere hours ago it should be more or less impossible to identify him without being able to make out his face. Subaru was now wearing the long dark jacket he had bought, that was more akin to a dark trench coat then his previous jacket. He wore it with the front open, revealing his dark pants and t-shirt, these in turn matched with the dark rings that had formed around his eyes, and his black hair that now hung down in the front to give him the disheveled appearance of someone who looked like they had every last drop of life wrung out of him.

As Subaru walked away from the window his hands instinctively went into his pockets and his head hung somewhat lower then normal, his strides were sluggish yet long, it was a demeanor similar to an everyday salaryman walking home after finishing a long stint of unpaid overtime; it gave of the radiance of both exhaustion and regret, yet Subaru felt neither. He knelt on the cold, hard and uncovered floor to give his paper a final once over before he would take it to an artisan’s guild workshop during the next morning. The paper held a rough sketch that depicted a kotatsu; a short wooden table with a heavy fabric frill around the outer edge that was just long enough to touch the ground, a small box with a tiny fire crystal was in the middle to generate heat. The purpose of this device was to serve as a table while allowing the user to be kept quite warm by the heat trapped underneath. Subaru’s plan was to sell this device to generate enough revenue to pay for both rent and food, without having to deplete the store of cash he had built today, it would be this innovation along with others from his world that would allow him to make his way in Lugunica. Although he lacked any formal education in terms of drafting, he checked over his sketch once more to ensure it had all the details he thought were needed.

Once that process was done Subaru walked over to the mat and blanket, unrolling both before removing his jacket and sliding between them. As he closed his eyes and felt his mind begin to drift off to sleep, he heard a now familiar voice echo through his head. “Now Natsuki Subaru-kuuuuun I will uphold my promise, now you will experience the past that forced me onto the path of the _Warlock of Melancholy._ ”

As these words echoed through his head Subaru found himself in the body of a young boy, Subaru could not speak, he couldn’t move. However, he could feel the gentle rays of the sun from the sky, he could hear the gentle rustle of the wind, he could see a field of wheat slowly blowing in the wind, and he could feel the drudgery of existential dread that the boy felt, for dread was the only emotion the boy seemed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although this chapter was pretty slow, being mainly Hector and Subaru talking about what they need to do in the future I believe alot of the stuff was necessary for the story as a whole. Next chapter is the time for Hector to shine though!


	4. The Witch and the Warlock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hector gives Subaru a dream of his past

A boy stood alone in the middle of a large field of wheat, he could feel the gentle evening rays of the sun as it began to dip below the horizon, casting across the sky a gentle crimson as if to signal the end of the day. The boy felt the cool evening breeze as sweat dripped down his face and back for he was incredibly tired from a long day at work; one that had begun just as the sun had began to rise above the horizon. The boy’s hands shook and trembled in fear as he gripped a scythe that was much too big for him, he did not hold the scythe in self-defence for he was much too afraid of the man walking towards him to dare try and fight back. All that little Hector could do was stand paralyzed in fear as the man that he had only known as father approached him with a look of disappointment on his face.

Hector’s father was not a very big man, being of a very average height and just a slightly heavier than average build. He was by no means a very intimidating man, however when Hector craned his neck to look up at him as they stood nought but a pace or two apart, he may as well have been a giant. Hector had the small stature of a prepubescent boy, not having even reached his tenth birthday; and so as he stood before his father he reached nought more than halfway up his chest. As Hector stood there looking up at his fathers face he saw nothing more then disappointment, he saw how his fathers eyes held no warmth for him, how his face sagged at the very sight of him, how he saw not a son in front of him but a failure. Hector already knew all too well at his young age what was almost certainly going to occur to him, he knew what kind of lesson he would receive due to disappointing his father.

“Hector, I thought I told you to clear both the fields by the end of the day; but the field behind you looks far from clear…….” Hector’s father looked down on him with an imposing gaze, it felt like he was staring right through Hector into the back of his mind, trying to decipher why his son had not done what he had asked of him. Hector also knew that should he wait too long to respond to his father, that his father’s disappointment would soon turn into frustration, and it would be precisely then that the ‘lesson’ would solely become a session of anger relief, with Hector being the provider of the relief.

“The west field is completely cleeeeeear father, and this field will be doooooone before midday tomorrow.”

**SMACK**

Before he knew what happened Hector found himself laying on the ground with blood beginning to trickle down from his nose. The left side of his face felt sore, he wanted to cry, his lip began to quiver; but he stopped himself for he knew should he show any weakness things would only get worse. Ever since Hector was old enough to really be afraid, he had been afraid of his father; the slightest of things would set him off and lead to him beating Hector until he grew bored of it. Although Hector was still a child, and a spindly one at that, and he faced nearly daily physical abuse from his father; his father had always ensured that he had enough food and water, he had always made sure that none of Hector’s cuts or wounds grew infected. For reasons beyond what the little boy could comprehend it seemed that his father somewhat cared for him, even if he appeared to despise him, looked like he loathed him, and treated him no better then a slave.

“You’re not coming inside until this field is cleared, I blame your laziness on that damn demi blood that you have running in your veins. You may not look like one of them beasts, you look completely human in fact; but you can’t trick us, I know, and all of the town knows who your wench of a mother was. Oh and stop speaking like a damn clown boy, you can say you can’t help it all you want but if you keep it up I may just start dressing you like one.” Hectors father then spit on the ground as he turned and slowly walked back to the house, leaving Hector to stand up on his own.

Hector had never known his mother, only knowing of her very existence from when his father mentioned her; on the odd occasion that he did, it was never in a positive light. He did not really know what to feel towards her either, when he was in town, he saw other kids walking with their moms; but it was because of his mother that his father treated him so badly. It was because of her that he was a ‘demi human’ even if he looked like any other kid, but he also saw how all the other kids seemed to love their mothers and be so happy; so should he be like them and love his mother? Or should he hate her for causing him to be miserable and fearful all the time? This was a question that had been plaguing the young Hector for as long as he could remember, but it was also a question that he could not answer.

Hector stood up off the ground and let out a sigh before he got to work clearing the field as the sky began to darken and the air grew cold. It took the effort of his whole body to swing the scythe, he often fell over after the swing alongside the wheat; not because he harmed himself but because he did not weigh enough to properly control the momentum of the blade. As he worked, he could feel his stomach rumble, it had been over 12 hours since he had last eaten, and it likely would be a few more simply by the size of the field left to clear. But he had dinner to look forward to, he knew that his father had eaten chicken for dinner and normally he got some leftovers alongside a gruel made of barely and wheat; his mouth salivated at the thought of his dinner as he worked under the nights sky.

Early the next morning Hector grunted as he pulled a wooden two wheeled wagon behind him, every step was a struggle as he slogged to make his grain delivery to the mill. What made this worse was how tired and exhausted he felt due to not getting to bed until well past the middle of the night, he had deep and dark eyebags alongside the large red welts on his face. Hector had been too tired to wake up on time, and as a result he was woken by his father’s leather belt on his face.

As Hector pulled the wagon along, he passed by a group of kids that looked around his age, there were three of them playing with a ball on the side of the dirt street. One of them was tall and lanky, with a mop of golden hair; he was the son of the captain at arms who headed the town guard. The two other boys with him were twin brothers, one around average height and a bit heavy, the other short and tiny. Both had the same chestnut hair colour, but the bigger twin wore his down to his shoulders while the tiny one had a cut close to his scalp. Hector had never gotten to play with these boys, or any other kids for that matter, or play in general if one really thought of it; ever since he was able to work he’d been put to work by his father, before that he was more or less just left alone and ignored. Hector did not know the names of these boys, nor did he think they knew his, but they had their own names for him.

“Hey loooooooooook it’s the freak!” shouted one of the twins.

“Oh no he’s goooooooooooing to eat me, what eeeeeeever shaaaaaaaaall I dooooo” chimed in the other twin.

“Where’s your collar beastboy? If you just happen to be too stupid to keep track of it then I could always tie a rope around your neck insteaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.” Menaced the blond boy.

The trio stood there hurling insults at Hector as they always did, either basing them off of Hector’s uncontrollable verbal tick, or his supposed demi human ancestry. Hector wanted to lash back at them, shout at them that it was not true; if he could not do that then he wanted to just run away from them as fast as possible. But Hector could not do either of those things, if he left the cart in order to run he would get even more, and deeper lashes from his dad’s belt when he was eventually found. Should Hector shout back at them, call them liars, demand they stop, then all that would happen would be his dad getting a visit from the guard captain, which in turn would lead to lashes for Hector. He simply had to close himself off from the rest of the world, he only had another few buildings to go before he would be at the millers hut.

When Hector arrived at the miller’s house, he pulled the wagon up beside the larger side doors before gently letting go of the crossbar and stepping over it to approach the doors. He banged as hard as he could with his small hands and soon the doors parted to reveal a large and well-built man. The miller was well over a head taller than Hector’s dad, and his whole body was covered in a thick layer of muscle built from turning the quern stone by hand. The miller was bald with a blonde mustache, the green eyes that looked down at Hector were full of annoyance as he eyed the boy and the wagon that he had pulled with him.

“I was expecting this to arrive a fair bit earlier ya’know, guess you damn demi’s can’t get even simple things right these days….” The miller stood there shaking his head in some combination of annoyance and disdain over how the little boy had not managed to pull the wagon faster, before raising his voice with a tinge of frustration. “Well, what the fuck are you just standing there for? Unload the damn wagon!”

At the roughness of his voice little Hector scurried to unload the wagon as fast as his tired little arms would let him, he was already exhausted from his lack of sleep and the hours he had spent pulling the wagon, but he was motivated by fear. The harsh treatment from his father had instilled in him a general fear of displeasing adults, even the slightest trace of annoyance in their face or body would fill Hector with anxiety over potentially upsetting them.

After receiving a small bag of coin from the miller Hector set back off to return home, slowly pushing the wagon with the coin pouch lashed to his pants, however as Hector rounded the corner, he saw the trio from earlier, and this time they seemed to be waiting for him.

“Oink, Oink, Oink” Went the two twins.

“Are you hungry wiiiiiiiitle pig boy? Don’t worry we were kind enough to bring some food for you!” Just as the blonde boy finished saying that Hector began to be barraged by a hail of rotten fruits and vegetables.

He crouched down and raised his hands to protect his face as objects slammed into him over and over again. Some of them were hard and hurt when they struck him, others were softer but broke when they hit, causing him and his clothing to be slowly drenched from the juice emptying out of the splattering fruit.

They didn’t stop…..

They just kept going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on……..

He could not take it any longer.

For the first time in a long time Hector began to cry; why did they hate him so much, why did everyone he ever meet hate him, why did everyone he ever meet go out of their way to make him miserable. Today was the worst day Hector had ever experienced in his life, he hated it, he hated everyone, he hated the world he had been born into…..

These were the thoughts that ran through the head of little Hector as he stood crouched in the road as fruit rained down on him. He really did feel like a helpless beast of burden as he crouched there behind the bar for pushing the wagon, sweaty and smelly from how hard he worked, covered in rotten fruit, and crying from how horrible his life was, and how little he could do about it.

Eventually the three either grew bored of tormenting Hector or simply ran out of fruit to throw, allowing Hector a breather to slowly trudge back home with the wagon. He arrived as the sky grew crimson, his face and clothes stained and sticky from the fruit juice, his eyes still burning red as tears continued to roll down his face. Opening the door of his house he was greeted by his father standing there, impatiently tapping his foot on the floor with his arms crossed across his chest. When Hector saw him, he rushed towards him and buried his face into his shirt as his crying returned to sobbing; for while his father may not have been that nice to him, he still was the person nicest to him out of those he interacted with by the sole standard of giving him food and a roof. In his emotional state Hector sought comfort from the man because of this, but anyone would say that this was obviously the wrong choice.

Hector’s father was stunned and in shock from the unexpected actions of his son, but he soon snapped both back into reality and at his son. Grabbing a handful of his hair and yanking it back before slamming his fist repeatedly into Hector’s stomach until he doubled over on the floor in pain, that was his response to his sons need for comfort; that was just the kind of man his father was. As Hector lay on the floor clutching his stomach in pain while trying to suck in breathes, both through his own pain and his now uncontrollable sobbing, his father knelt down and screamed into his ear.

“JUST WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING BOY? YOU’RE FUCKING FILTY AND YOU GRAB ONTO ME TO AND WIPE YOUR DAMN NOSE INTO MY SHIRT? AND WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO IN TOWN TO GET SO FUCKING DIRTY, ARE YOU ACTUALLY PART PIG AND JUST FELT THE URGE TO ROLL AROUND IN THE RUBBISH? WELL IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER ANYMORE I GUESS SINCE YOUR CLOTHES ARE RUINED.” Hectors father then grabbed a handful of Hectors clothing in each hand and ripped it off him before hurling it into the waste bin. He then lifted the trembling and nearly naked Hector to his feet before shoving him in the direction of the wash basin they kept in a small room. “Go clean yourself up before going to bed, I’d throw your food out but I’m not sure that it wouldn’t just make you dive into the waste bin after it like a wild beast.”

And so Hector did as instructed, he staggered to the wash basin and scrubbed his face clean before falling into his rough straw bed, the dried straw irritating his bare skin like it normally did. He lay there crying for a bit before he heard pounding on the wall behind his head.

“IF YOU DON’T SHUT THE FUCK UP HECTOR, I WILL COME OVER THERE AND GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT!”

After hearing this Hector closed his eyes and began to count, a trick he learned to calm himself and stop his tears long ago.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Hector took a deep and rattly breath as he opened his eyes; something had changed in those five seconds, it was not just that he felt calmer, it was the world itself that seemed different. Before he closed his eyes, he saw a vibrant yet painful, harsh yet vivid world. When he opened them however there was no colour, all that had made the different things in the world vivid were gone; everything was grey. The fear that Hector had felt, the vivid pain that had struck his heart was gone; the dread that had plagued him as part of his daily life was gone. Even the fear of his father and other adults was gone. For now the world was a cold and boring place devoid of colour, for now there was a raincloud overtop of him that would drown out the harshness of the world, for now it seemed the world saw fit to cloak Hector in a blanket of melancholy in order to protect him.

* * *

Hector opened his eyes and all he saw was ………….. grey. It had been years since that fateful night, the night where he broke in the face of the harsh world, where he gave up on life itself. Everyday since then Hector had simply gone through the motions that he deemed necessary to get by; whether he had rotten fruit thrown at him or whether he was shouted at all day did not affect his mood in the slightest. No matter what happened each day Hector felt nothing more then melancholy, he drowned in it, it permeated him, his very aura exuded it.

As he stood up he drearily meandered over to his single pair of clothes, these were colourful unlike what he wore as a child, at least that’s what he had been told, since it wasn’t like he could still see colour in the world anyway. Hector slowly slipped into the clothes, they were significantly more intricate than what he used to wear and such required some time to put on; parts of them had to be tied up, parts had to be put on after other parts, without following the proper process they would get in the way of his work and irritate him throughout the day.

Hector walked out of the house without the slightest spring in his step, his face was sullen and his eyes depressed; if one were to see him they would question how he even managed to get out of bed everyday. As per his normal daily routine he was once again pushing a cart, but unlike before his cart was empty. His father had sold off their fields and used the money to open a small store, which he ran; as a result of this Hector became a full-time delivery boy, carting goods to and from the store for the entirety of the day under the hot lugunican sun.

Hector didn’t say a single thing or give even the slightest reaction at this point when he had insults or fruit hurled at him, the adversity and discrimination he faced could no longer make him feel even the slightest bit worse than he already did. This did not stop the wretched trio however, everyday they had stuff ready to throw his way, everyday they had new insults prepared to fire off at him. At the very least it was a testament to their abilities to manage to think of a new spin on clown or demi human everyday for several years, if they truly were stupid they would have started rehashing old ones long ago; or maybe it was just that Hector cared so little at this point he could no longer tell when one was new or when one was old. His customers were a little better in this regard, although they generally did make one snide comment over his heritage, his way of speaking, or his dress; they at the very least did not throw anything at him or get up in his face. His father however had only grown worse with his abuse, he hit Hector significantly more and significantly harder now that he had grown enough to endure more, his punishments normally lasting until his father was too physically tired to keep going; his verbal abuse going on until his throat went horse.

One would think that Hector would have ended his life long ago after having gone through so much on a daily basis, but the thought had never even entered his mind for he ran solely on autopilot, that autopilot taking him through everyday until now when he was pulled back to reality through the fog that filled his mind. For just an instant Hector was back in the world, and its cause was as mundane as the wheel of his wagon hitting a tiny bump on the way back home.

Hector put the wagon down and simply stared ahead at the three paths that lay before him; to his left was a barely used track into the forest, it led away from his home to a place he had never been to. As the path entered the forest it became shaded by overgrowth to the point it was too dark to see down. Directly in front of him was the only path he had ever taken; it led to his home and was well worn from the thousands of times he had walked it with his wagon over the years. Finally to his right was not exactly a path, it was more or less just some slightly matted grass from someone treading off the actual path recently. If you followed the footsteps you would see that it led up to a small hill that overlooked the surrounding area, atop the hill stood a lone and withered tree, its leaves long gone as the trunk had died many years ago. For reasons unknown to even Hector himself he felt compelled, or even drawn to this tree; perhaps it was due to some sense of similarity he felt with it, perhaps not. Following this compulsion Hector stepped away from his wagon and began the short trek up to the tree without having even the slightest clue as to why he would risk angering his father to visit it. He walked up the hill with the same expression and demeanor he had worn the whole day, emptiness.

Finally reaching the tree he just stood there and looked down at the base of the trunk, there was almost little there, almost nothing but not nothing. At the base of the tree was the remains of an upturned bird’s nest, the eggs of the young that had not had the chance to be born were cold and long dead. As the winter was fast approaching it is likely that they had been here for some time, but whether they had been abandoned by their parents before they fell or long after was unclear, but the end result was the same, without the care and nurturing they needed, they had died. Hector stared at the eggs for awhile before putting his back against the tree and slumping down to the ground, his eyes growing glassy as tears began to form for the first time in along while. Perhaps he pitied the young unborn birds for not having the opportunity to be born, perhaps he envied them for being saved from the clutches of this cruel world by fate; it was almost certainly one of these ideas as he sat on the hill with a grey overcast sky above and a cool autumn breeze swirling around him. It was one of these ideas that he contemplated when he the gentle rustling of grass reached his ear; the sound made by someone walking up the hill from the other side of the tree.

As he heard them walk closer Hector prepared for the normal treatment he received from people, he was ready to have them scream and shout at him, demand he leave and stop ruining the view for them. And so as they walked beside Hector he did not utter a single word, merely looking forward as he prepared for the worst, but the worst did not come.

“Although I cannot say I personally find it too enthralling to just sit and watch unchanging scenery, I guess I can say that I understand why someone might want sit and just stare.” The voice that spoke was young, feminine, and was carried with a slightly soft tone. After the woman finished speaking Hector could hear her sit down beside him, on the side opposite the bird’s nest.

This was not right, something was wrong, why hadn’t she shouted at him yet, why hadn’t she demanded he leave for having demi human blood, or for dressing and speaking so oddly.

“Sometimes it is enjoyable to just sit and wonder, wonder how things would have gone differently if just one tiny thing long ago were to have been different. Is that why you are here Hector?” The woman continued to speak in a soft voice, without a hint of malice even as she said his name. She was still not showing the tiniest hint of disdain towards him, even though she knew his name; she even being kind to him.

“I don’t thiiiiiiiink about such things, this world is already cruel enough to me, the idea that I’ve beeeeeeeeeeen cheated out of a good life due to misfortune would be one of the few things that could make me feel even worse at thiiiiiiis point.” Hector answered the woman’s question with an empty and hollow voice, conveying nothing but melancholy. Hector did not even turn to face the woman who spoke, instead choosing to face straight forward towards the open scenery in front of him.

“Hmmmm well I wouldn’t say that I didn’t expect an answer like that, but any answer to a question such as what I asked is interesting unto itself.” The woman paused for a few seconds before continuing, “I guess that I forgot to introduce myself, seeing as I already know why you are, but you don’t know who I am it would be the proper thing to do. Just by the way Hector, I am assuming you do not have much experience in this regard, but it isn’t good for a maiden’s heart when you don’t even bother to face her when she makes an attempt to converse with you.” The woman then stopped talking and seemed to wait for Hector to face her for the first time in their conversation before she would continue.

And so Hector slowly turned his head to see the woman who was unexpectedly showing him kindness, and when he saw her his jaw hung open just the tiniest bit. Seemingly as if decreed by fate the clouds had parted behind her, revealing the crimson afternoon sun which illuminated her, giving her an angelic vibe as her figure was outlined by the last rays of the setting sun. She looked to be younger than he had thought that she was, appearing to be around his age; she wore a long black dress that by its snug fit and pristine condition seemed to show that she was not used to the strenuous outdoor work that he did on a daily basis. Her hair was long and white, contrasting greatly with her black eyes. However what amazed Hector the most about her was that he was seeing her in colour, ever since that night as a young boy he had only seen things in greyscale, but here was a living person in colour, a living person who was being nice to him as well. It was like the world had turned over a coin and decided to deliver him to his saviour.

As she watched him with a smile on her face, she opened her mouth and softly yet confidently introduced herself, “My name is Echidna, it’s nice to meet you Hector.” With that she flashed him another smile as he simply sat there awestruck.

“Whyyyyyy are you being so nice to meeeeee?” Hector voiced the question that had been sitting in his mind since Echidna had shown up, why would she be kind to someone the whole village hated, why would she be kind to someone hated by even his own family.

Echidna put a finger on her chin and looked up at the cloudy sky before speaking, “hmmm well why wouldn’t I be? I may be an evil magic user but that doesn’t mean I can’t be kind, does it?”

Now Hector did not have the slightest clue what Echidna meant by “an evil magic user” but the fact that someone was being kind to him made him feel happy, for probably the first time in his life he was just happy. The words “I see” escaped his lips as he looked down with a smile on his face, a facial expression that he did not ever remember using.

“You see Hector, I’m a very _curious_ person so if you don’t mind me asking, can you tell me why you looked like you were going to cry earlier?” Echidna tilted her head quizzically as she posed her question.

“Envy, I envied that these little biiiiiirds were saved from this cruel wooooorld while I was not.” Hector motioned to the fallen bird’s nest on the other side of him from Echidna, who leaned out to look at it. The second she saw it she made a “hrrk” sound and leaned back with a gloomy look on her face.

“If that’s how you felt then why are you still here, if you think that not being born would have been a better path then why not die Hector?” Echidna’s voice seemed to shake as she said this, as if the topic was legitimately uncomfortable for her to speak about.

“Never thooooought about it” Hector replied curtly as he tried to get through the current topic as quickly as possible, picking up that his previous answer had bothered her.

“Huh?” Echidna looked up rather sharply, “You mean to say that with how horrid your life seemed to have been up to this point, and how you envy something that died before it was even born, that you never thought of committing suicide?” Echidna was now staring at him with a perplexed expression on her face, but if you were to look into her eyes, you would see a twinkle of something behind them; Echidna was completely captivated by the answer, fascinated. It seemed like the morbid nature of the topic was no longer a concern to her whatsoever, something in the answer had caught her hook line and sinker.

“I went through the motiooooons of life up to this point without reaaaaaally thinking, if you’ve only knoooown sadness then why would you seek a means to escape it for something unknoooown? And how do you know soooooo much about me when I had never met yooooou up to this poiiiint?” Hector’s voice remained completely flat throughout the entirety of his statement, not changing in the slightest.

Echidna the looked away as her face became ever so slightly tinged with red before she began to speak incredibly quickly with a very heavy hint of fluster in her voice, “Ummm I may have been watching you for a bit…… JUST A BIT THOUGH, IT WAS INTERESTING SEEING HOW YOU HANDELED YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES OKAY. Anyway, its time to go, come back here tomorrow okay?” Echidna then swiftly stood up and after brushing off her dress she swiftly walked back down the hill before Hector knew what was happening.

Hector remained sitting on the hill for the next few moments thinking about the encounter with Echidna he just had, it was the first time he had held a conversation with someone and they had not berated or hurt him. It was one of the first times that he had felt truly happy in his life. And so with these feelings of happiness in his mind he stood up and began to walk down the hill to retrieve his cart, and with a smile on his face he resumed the last leg of the grueling journey home.

It had been dark for a significant amount of time when he walked through the front door of his house, when he walked in to get punched right in the stomach.

“WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN BOY? YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN BACK HOURS AGO” Shouted his father as Hector crumpled to the floor from the punch. However much the punch may have hurt Hector, he chose not to answer the question for he feared that should he answer that he may never get the chance to see her again, to talk to her, to be with the one person who was kind to him again. And it was because of this that Hector was forced to lay on the floor as his father kicked away at him, but Hector did not mind this in the slightest, for now he had something he could hold onto and treasure in his life. Because now Hector finally had something that made him happy.

* * *

“Don’t worry piggy we got more food for you!” Laughed the normal trio as they threw chunks of rotten food at Hector as he pulled his wagon through town. It was a continuation of the behaviour that they had been keeping up for nearly a decade at this point, doing their best to ensure that Hector’s life was as miserable as possible. But now things were different, because now there was someone providing a light that guided him through the darkness, because now Hector had Echidna. After their meeting on that hill all those years ago the two had continued to meet there nearly daily, sometimes talking about the most obscure things, other times simply sitting there together until it got dark. It was these meetings that shone a beam of light, giving Hector a shard of happiness to hold in his broken heart; his heart even beginning to behave differently when he was around her. It would beat faster when they were close, it would feel downtrodden when they had to separate, only to become excited when it was nearly time for the two to meet again.

However today his heart would not grow excited for the time when his work grew to a close, because today he would not be seeing Echidna on that hill after work. Echidna had been requested by a noble in the capital to heal their ailing heir, the fact that she held such a reputation as a healer had surprised Hector when she had told him of this trip. She would not be back for at least a week or two at the earliest and as a result Hector would be back to a life more or less analogous to what he endured before he met her, alone and melancholic.

Besides his own feelings the day went by nearly identical to any other day, he pulled his cart around the village either picking up deliveries for his fathers new store or making deliveries to customers in the name of said store. And like a day that changed his life for the better long ago he found himself stopped at a fork in the path after hitting a rock once again at the days end. To his right was a now more well trodden path up a hill towards a tree, a tree that was once baren and dead but was now being reclaimed by life in the form of vines and moss. Directly ahead down the main path stood the home he had lived in with his father his whole life, a place that had not experienced the joys of happiness in the nearly two decades he had lived there. Finally, to his left was a track that looked like it had not seen use in many, many years; slowly and steadily being reclaimed by nature. If one’s eyes were to follow the track they would see that it lead into a deep dark forest, so dark that from the outside ones eyes could not see but a few meters in.

Perhaps it had been because he dreaded an early return home, perhaps it was for reasons unexplainable like when he walked up the hill to the tree, but just like on that day Hector put down his wagon and walked away from the main path, but this time he walked into the dark forest.

The forest that Hector walked through was an odd one, normally the tree cover would either get thicker the deeper you went, or stay relatively consistent, however this forest was the reverse. The initial outskirts of the forest had tree cover so dense and thick that it stopped most of the light from penetrating. This gave the forest the impression that the entire thing was so densely packed with tree’s that it must be like nighttime inside even when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. However the farther Hector walked it seemed as if the trees began to thin, thin to the point that it could almost be called a glade within the forest, almost but not quite. With the large beams of light illuminating the canopy around him Hector was able to take stock of his surroundings in the new environment. All around him were large ancient tree’s, their trunks many times thicker than his body, all of them were covered in a thick layer of moss that extended for several meters up the trunk. In some places the land was incredibly bumpy with large boulders and thick fallen tree’s littering the ground, in such a density that straying from the path would at the very least be difficult and at worst near impossible. However these areas were broken up by random spherical zones that were completely flat, so perfectly flat that they rivaled and even surpassed the planks made from the mill in how flat they were. The air was heavy in moisture, giving it a heavy and earthy quality that would make one think that they were near a body of water, even if there was not one in sight. What stood out however was the dilapidated cabin visible a hundred or so paces down the path from him. The cabin looked old and rundown, not giving the slightest indication that it was actually inhabited; the building appeared to be completely made of wood with a thick layer of moss covering most of its exterior. The roof seemed partially caved in and on its way to fully collapsing with multiple areas already sinking inward. The cabin lacked anything to cover its windows, no glass nor curtain as they were simply open to the air, when this is pared with the lack of a door it made the building seem more like a shell then anything else.

Perhaps it was due to some of Echidna’s curiosity rubbing off on him but Hector began to approach the building, not feeling the slightest unease with this mysterious structure in the middle of the woods. However as he neared the building he saw a silhouette in the window, it was too dark inside the cabin to make out a single detail about them but he could see clearly that they were facing right towards him.

And then the air suddenly got heavier, a lot heavier, so heavy that Hector was forced onto the ground before he knew it. The pressure on his body was so great that he could not speak, could not cry for help, could not even breath. The pressure kept building, higher and higher, he felt his ribs begin to creak, they began to bend slightly as they groaned with their futile attempt to bear the immense weight of the invisible force.

“You should know that it is incredibly rude to invade one’s privacy, to strip them of the solitude that they desire; however I guess in the sad world we exist in such a thing is to be expected. The melancholy of such an existence slows my heart, it pains me that I have endured such a thing, and that I will continue to endure for but a little while longer.” The voice that spun the eloquent lines to Hector did not sound old, yet its speaker used deprecated and overly complex diction to convey what should have been a simple message. They spoke in a manner not unlike how Hector used to, and to some extent continued to, with no joy or spark of life behind their words; they spoke as if life itself had left them behind to simply watch as the world marched on without them. As well the speaker seemed to be slightly laboured in their breathing as they walked over, like the short strides needed to reach where he was pinned to the ground was some colossal exertion for them. Although Hector did not recognize the voice in the slightest he could tell that the speaker was likely a woman from their pitch.

But as the women came closer, the pressure built even further, it was now causing more pain than Hector had ever felt in his life; it kept building further until he felt a snap followed by an onrush of incredibly sharp pain.

“Hrrrrrk” Hector wanted to scream, his chest was on fire, a sharp pain went through him like a rod that started somewhere in his back and went through his chest cavity to his front. Besides the pain he felt a wetness beginning to permeate through him, his throat was being filled by a liquid, it tasted like copper, it was blood. The front of his clothes began to feel damp against his skin, he could feel something trickling out his front around where the rod of pain in his chest stopped, more blood.

“Irritating, how you squirm like that and make so much noise annoys me, why can’t you be less irritating? You remind me of him, I don’t want to remember that impertinent imbecile whatsoever, why must you have come here and brought such a tide of melancholy with you, why must you have come to drown me, this sadness is too much. I cannot withstand it, why did you have to saunter over here and make me feel so ba…….” The female voice continued on about how sad Hector’s mere presence made her, but it stopped as she seemed to kneel down near Hector’s face. Hector could not see anything about her since his eyes were clamped shut as his face contorted due to the incomprehensible pain he was in. However as he lay there he felt hot droplets of liquid strike his face in the characteristically slow pitter patter of tear from someone who had just began to cry; she had seen his face and now she was crying and that was why she had stopped carrying on so abruptly.

“Why did you have to come here Hector? Why couldn’t I have been free of you, it’s too painful I really cannot take it. I could not run too far yet I was not able to run far enough and now I am forced see you again? Why did you have to come here and make me cry like this, why did you have to come and torment me again like you did when you were an infant? Why Why Why Why? Please get up and leave, don’t come back, just get up and go, I really cannot stand seeing you again, its like I am drowning, too much sadness, too much depression, everything is just pure melancholy in this world isn’t it.” As the woman’s ranting about how sad she was began to taper off Hector felt the pressure holding his body down disperse, but the pain and fire across his chest remained.

As he heard the woman begin to walk away Hector slowly prepared to get up off the ground, he felt fear like how he felt around his father as a young child. What was different though was how his father always seemed to follow some kind of twisted logic with his beatings, never going too far as to cause substantial damage, only to deliver pain. This lady seemed completely insane, one second calm and collected, the next crying and ranting about how sad she was. What made it even worse was that she spoke of Hector as if she knew him, yet she seemed prepared to completely crush him into a dust because she disliked the memory she held of him. If Hector stayed here and she came back there is a very real chance that he would not be leaving the forest alive, or ever again; this in itself may not have bothered a younger Hector but the idea of never seeing Echidna again certainly bothered him now. And so it was with an image of the girl who lifted him out of his sea of despair, an image of the women who continued to be his reason to keep on enduring the world that Hector forced himself to stand. He fought the surge of pain that made tinges of white grow around the outskirts of his vision in order to force himself up onto his unsteady legs. With a hand clutched to his chest as a thin trickle of blood seeped between his fingers he staggered from the forest, drawing shallow and laboured breaths as thin streaks of blood escaped the corners of his mouth. As the path up the hill to the tree had seemingly saved him, the path to the left into the forest had seemingly put Hector on the precipice of death.

* * *

Dizzy, the whole world in front of him was ablur. It had been about a week since he returned from the woods and things had only gotten worse since then. Moving, bending, lifting, even breathing caused sharp pain to shoot through his chest; breathing too deeply caused his mouth to fill with blood and caused a sucking sensation around the puncture in his chest. After leaving the forest Hector had found that one of his ribs had broken off and was currently lodged through his lung and partially out of his chest. A few days after he woke up with an incredible fever and found that the wound on his chest was oozing a putrid yellow pus. It smelled terrible and looked absolutely revolting, the skin around the cut turned dark and split open if he prodded it or moved too forcefully, causing it too to ooze a combination of pus and blood. Today had been the worst day yet, he could barely stand, the ground felt like it was tilting under his feet as he stumbled towards the hill with an empty cloth bag. His deliveries had been light lately which was a godsend, there was no way Hector could pull the cart in his condition. Everything in his head was jumbled, he had not been able to keep the days straight since he woke yesterday, this is why he was walking up towards the hill even though the sun was about to set, and Echidna was still supposed to be gone for another week.

Hector took ages to walk up the hill, he was swaying side to side as he staggered, his skin had grown incredibly clammy and sweat was running down his face. Cold, why did he feel so cold if he was sweating, it did not make one bit of sense; on the same topic of things that did not make sense, why did he see Echidna sitting by the tree. She was not supposed to be back for another week, and even with that she normally would be heading home around now, yet there she was.

Echidna turned to see Hector walking up the hill towards her with a big smile on her face, but after a little more then a second that smile drooped and faded, her face being overcome by worry as she quickly stood up and rushed down the hill towards him. The last thing Hector saw was her face before he fell to the ground and passed out.

The first sensation Hector felt when he came to was something wet, it flowed and coursed through his body like water, it penetrated every nook and cranny, flowing through every crease, just like water. If Hector had never opened his eyes he may have even thought that it was water, but he did open his eyes and did not expect what he saw. He was on the grassy side of the hill lying on his back, knelt beside him was Echidna with her eyes clamped shut in concentration as she held out both her hands just above her chest with a strange light emitting from them.

“Huh” A gasp of confusion leaves Hector’s mouth as he stares at the light emanating from her hands, it was beautiful in his eyes. The gentle soft hues of blue that glowed from her delicate fingers, the soothing sensation that coursed through his body, emanating from the area closest to her hands. Come to think about it he felt better since waking up, his mind was clear as day and the chills he was racked with had disappeared. He was able to breath normally without pain shooting through his body and he no longer felt the bone poking through his skin. Had the angel who had brought him back to the world from the depths of his depression now also delivered him from the crippling pain he had felt since entering the woods?

After hearing him stir Echidna slowly turned to face him, her eyes red and glassy, her face seemed moist from the streaks of tears that ran down her eyes. After what seemed like a mere instant suddenly Hector could not see anymore, his eyes covered by a soft and delicate hand. What came next was the voice he had come to adore over the years, just now it was shakier than he had ever heard it, “I’m done healing you, just give me a moment please … seeing this bothered me more then I expected. Had I taken even another day in the capital then you would likely be …….. we would not be having this conversation………..” Her voice seemed to trail off as Hector heard her take in several deep breaths, the alternative present playing through her mind must have been truly unthinkable. But if she needed a moment to cry then Hector would give her that moment, it was a small favour to give compared to how she gave and continued to give him a reason to enjoy life.

After a few moments she removed her hand from Hector eyes and he sat up beside her on the grassy hill, as he did this she wiped away the last few lingering bits of water using the sleeve of her dress. The two simply sat there in silence for the next few moments before Echidna spoke, her voice once again returning to its normal calm and methodical tone. “I would wager that it was not your father or the townsfolk who did that to you this time was it?”

“A week ago I walked into the forest and I encountered a woman whoooooo I didn’t recognize, but who recognized me. Somehow it was like she waaaaaaas crushing me with an unimaginable amount of force, yet at no pooooooooint did she lay a single finger on me. But the second sheeeeee saw my face she buuuurst into tears and left meeeeee.” Hector calmly summarized his meeting with the mysterious woman as he saw a worried look return to Echidna’s face.

“To think she would stay that close by but still react like that….” Echidna murmured to herself as Hector just looked at her confused. After taking note of his confusion Echidna refocused on Hector and spoke in a louder voice tinged with the slightest bit of apprehension. “The woman you met is the Witch of Melancholy, she is incredibly mentally unstable and to say that her power is dangerous would be a great understatement. The combination of the two resulted in a reclusive hermit who abandoned her family and ran away to be alone because she believes that it will be the only way for light to return to her world. Most of the villagers believe that she was still out there lurking in the forest but were rightfully to scared to go in and confirm their suspicions. I had thought that it would take many hours if not days to walk in deep enough to find her, but to think she was so close to the edge was certainly not expected in the least.”

Although Echidna’s explanation of the behaviour of the woman certainly lined up with Hector’s experience, there was still something off about her explanation, the term or title of witch. “Echidna, what do you mean by witch, I haaaaaven’t heard that term before.” Hector posed his question to Echidna who looked like she wanted to giggle but held it in as she began to explain.

“A witch or warlock is someone who has obtained a witch factor, a power derived from one of the seven deadly sins plus the two forgotten ones. Holding one within your body will grant you power beyond your wildest dreams, but should you not represent the sin well enough then you must pay either a physical or mental price; in the case of the current melancholy, it is both physical and mental in nature. In my……” Echidna began to say something relating to herself when she was cut off by the loud shouting from someone marching up the hill.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE HECTOR WITH THAT WITCH, AND WHY THE FUCK DID IT TAKE YOU THE WHOLE DAY TO DO TWO DAMN DELIVERIES?” Hector’s father was screaming at the top of his lungs as he stomped towards the two, Hector was used to his father’s behaviour at this point but Echidna did not seem to take something he said very well as she sprung to her feet and took a step forward to place herself in between Hector and his approaching father, as if to protect him.

“You made him lug around heavy objects with a severe puncture wound, broken ribs, and a completely collapsed lung? What in the world were you thinking, he was mere hours away from death when I found him; if I had not healed him you would not even have a son anymore!” Echidna was attempting to maintain some façade of a calm demeanor, but it was not going particularly well as more and more anger seeped into her voice.

_Smack_ , that was the sound that rang out as Hector could only watch as Echidna took a backhand with enough force to knock her off her feet and back onto the ground. The sight of this filled Hectors heart with rage, an amount of rage he had never felt before. He had been struck by this man many times, probably with a similar amount of force as he had just witnessed, but that had never set his heart ablaze like it was now. He had never desired to strike back at his father but now since he had decided to direct that violence towards Echidna, especially when she was just trying to protect him, getting angry in his place; for doing that he would smash the man’s skull into so many pieces you could not even hope to piece it back together.

Hector jumped to his feet, poised to smash the man’s head into pieces, just that there was a slight problem. Hector was not a fighter, his untrained movements were sluggish and despite all the labour he did, he was not particularly strong. It was because of this that the second he began to throw a fist towards his father’s head, he already had his fathers fist contacting his own forehead. He fell backwards from the hit, his ears ringing as the whole world spun and shook, he was knocked to the ground unable to fight after only getting hit once, not even landing a hit himself.

“If this damn useless boy were to be too weak to do the simple jobs I give him, then maybe its just better if he did die, I doubt anyone would particularly miss.” As his father stood over him while making his position clear on how much he valued Hector’s life there was a sudden shift in the wind which had been proceeded by what Hector thought was the word ‘ _Fula’._ As Hector felt this change in the wind suddenly a red cloud emerged out of nowhere in front of him as two small lumps of flesh fell softly into the grass, they were a pair of ears.

“I’m not going to apologize for that, instead I am going to tell you that the only reason your head is still attached to your shoulders is because I am not certain how Hector would handle losing his last remaining family member. As well if you know enough to address me by my title of witch then why would you even consider picking a fight with me, I mean I am grateful that I could experience your stupidity, but the lack of logic does irk me just a bit.” Echidna’s voice was low and cold, giving off a heavy vibe of murderous intent.

“MONSTER, MONSTERS! THE TWO OF YOU ARE JUST PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER! STAY AWAY FROM ME, DON’T EVER COME BACK TO MY HOME HECTOR, IF THIS WITCH WANTS YOU SO DAMN BAD SHE CAN HAVE YA FOR ALL I CARE.” Hector’s father spat a loud of verbal diarrhea as he scurried away on the ground in desperation and fear to get away from the now blood-stained patch of grass on the hill and the person who created it.

Echidna closed her eyes and exhaled deeply as she regained her composure, the aura of murderous intent that had previously surrounding her dissipating before she reopened her eyes. “My apologies for making you see that, but we have to move quickly before the whole village gathers to either drive us out or capture us. Although slaug………… We should just get ready to leave town.”

Hector just sat there in silence, completely stunned at the display he just witnessed, stunned at both the shear power Echidna demonstrated but also at just how helpless and how much of a burden he was. He was truly useless, that is why he had to suffer under that monster of a man for so long, that is why he fell after a single hit and could not even serve as a meat shield for her. It was these thoughts that caused Hector’s face to burn with anger as his fingers dug into his palms deep enough to begin to draw blood. It was Echidna seemingly managing to notice these thoughts that caused an expression to begin to break out across her face, one that she had been careful to hide from Hector. Right now a devilish grin ran from ear to ear as she knelt back down to stand by his ear and whisper things that were a bit more then just sweet nothings. “You know Hector there is something you can do for me before we leave, something only you can do, something that I could not ever hope to be able to do myself.”

The second these words reached Hector’s ears the frustration left his face as he spun around to face her, an expression of complete eagerness and loyalty plastered on his face; Hector was ready and willing to do anything that she asked him just to be of use to her for once, to be able to return the favour for all she had done for him.

“You don’t have to do this for I you don’t want to, but if you go back into the woods, back to the run-down cabin that the Witch of Melancholy was in and tell her I sent you she will give you something very important to me. If you are too afraid after your last meeting with her then you don’t have to, just it would be hard for me to pass up the opportunity that this thing she will give you would present. So Hector, can you do this for me?” Before even the last of these words left her mouth Hector has already jumped to his feet and began to run towards the forest that had nearly killed him before, without even the slightest bit of hesitation.

* * *

Hector ran as fast and hard as he could, he was finally going to be able to repay her for how much she did for him, Hector was finally going to be more then just a burden that Echidna had chosen to carry along.

He ran along the path through the forest as he saw the rundown cabin appear from among the tree’s, closing in until he came to a stop on the piece of flattened ground where he had nearly died a week before. Hector faced the rundown cabin, not even catching the slightest glimpse of the Witch of Melancholy, so he raised his voice so that it would carry into the cabin. “Witch of Melancholy, Echidna has sent me , she wants me to retrieve the item that you wished to give her!”

However what emerged from the cabin was not the Witch of Melancholy, it was not even a person, and as far as Hector could tell it was not even something physical to begin with. For a split instant he could feel something flying towards him at incredible speed even though there was not a single object in sight. As he fell to the ground he felt something dark and black squirm into his body, yet he did not feel the slightest bit of pain nor discomfort, in fact as far as he could tell he had not sustained a single physical injury. Yet he had still fallen to the ground due to an impact that contained no force, an impact with a massless object that seemed to exist separately from the physical world he had known up until now.

As he lay on the ground he felt it writhe and squirm within him, it was not satisfied with only being in one place in his body, it wanted to be everywhere, to be everything, to be one with him. It was at this point as he felt it spread that Hector came to a realization, after his near two decades of life he realized that he was in fact a sinner. For all the years he had been alive Hector had committed sin after sin, he had lived a life of melancholy, he had not let happiness into his life, and as such he had brought sadness to the one person he cared about. Had he not sinned, had he been stronger to endure then Echidna would never have cried when his path through life led to him nearly dying, had he not been a sinner then Echidna would never been hurt, had he never been a sinner then Echidna would never of had to draw blood. But there was one more realization he had come to, the path he had walked up until now was one he had been put on by the actions of others rather then his own choice, it was there fault he had brought melancholy upon those whom he wished would only ever smile, it was these people who were the true sinners in this world; for their crime of bringing him melancholy and all others who would in the future, he would make them bare the weight of the sins they forced him to carry.

It was with this manifesto that Hector once again stood, and with him rose every sin that he had ever had to endure up to this point; they rose up to once again blanket him in melancholy and depression as the colour that Echidna had brought back to his life once again drained out. It was with this that Hector marched out of the grey forest no longer the weak boy who entered, but instead as a man, instead as Hector the Warlock of Melancholy.

Hector shambled forth, the effort to stand straight and walk with pride was too much for him, the effort that people expended simply to carry themselves in a dignified manner was something that made Hector sad. Anything that made Hector sad was something that must be crushed and removed from this world, for if it made him sad it must be a sinner that will be destroyed.

Hector slowly walked towards the first building he saw; it was one he knew well for he had lived in it for nearly two decades until the man inside decided to take it away from him. Losing his only home brought sadness to his heart, where would he call home if he no longer had one?

Hector pushed open the front door and walked in, seeing the man who sat in a large chair in the middle of the room; the man’s head was wrapped in bandages with large red spots spreading from where his ears would have been. The sight of this man made Hector want to cry, cry for all the times the young boy he once was trembled in fear, and quivered in pain; he wanted to cry for the melancholy the mere sight of the man brought to his heart. It took him less then an instant to deicide, this man was a sinner, he was a sinner for daring to bring him to the verge of tears, both now and as a young boy. As a sinner the man must die in order to atone for the crime of making the world just a bit more mellow.

Seemingly coming to the realization that he was not alone in his home the man turned to face the intruder as his face first filled with shock before contorting in anger. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE BOY, I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK. I GUESS SINCE THAT BITCH ISN’T HERE WITH YOU THAT I MIGHT ASWELL TEACH YOU ONE LAST DAMN LESSON!” The man began to stand from his chair and approach Hector, but it was too late and he was too weak.

“So noisy, so irritating, I’m getting depressed just listening to you, please shut up, I cannot take it any longer, why did you have to be my father, please just stop existing…….” Hector’s voice was low and empty, lacking even the most basic amount of tone expected from human communication. As these words left his mouth, he pressed on his fathers knees with a small fraction of his sins, and then his father collapsed to the ground screaming in pain nearly instantly.

Before he had fallen there had been a sickening crack as his kneecaps were shattered followed by snapping and popping sounds as his legs bent all the way around so that his toes were now pressing into the front of his stomach. Amidst the cacophony of sounds emitted from the crushed and popping knees, the tearing ligaments and muscle, and the screams of the man who owned these body parts, Hector continued.

“Irritating, annoying, why must my ears be assaulted by such noise, why must I have to bear this sadness, it is bringing me down, why must I have to endure this.” Following the completion of this next string of sadness a tearing sound erupted as the man’s abdomen was crushed from either side, causing it to split open like a pimple and spray forth a red and sticky mixture of gore, blood, partially digested food, and bodily fluid. The man remained alive but no longer screamed for the pain centre of his brain had been overloaded to the point of being incapable of keeping up with the amount of pain coming in. The man merely lay there with a pale complexion as the life slowly leaked out of him, tears poured out of his eyes as he looked up at his son with nothing but fear, the man knew he would probably die but could only hope he would be spared.

“So messy, so unclean, such filth, why must I be forced to stand in such a pig stye….” Hector’s voice trailed off as the shattered body of the man was launched up to the air before being slammed through the thin wall of the house.

Hector just let out a sigh as he outstretched his palm and watched the entire side of the house before him come crashing down to the ground before he trudged out through the rubble towards the whimpering body strewn into a heap in the grassy field.

“So much effort, why was I forced to do all of this, why couldn’t I just have been allowed to be happy, why must I be forced to live through such depression…” Hector’s voice trailed off as he stood above the broken and sobbing body of the man who had abused him all those years.

He heard the weak croaks of “forgive me, forgive me, forgive me” rising from the man he had called father, and it was with these pleas that Hector decided to forgive him, he would forgive him by returning to the man all of the sins he had borne in his name. He reached down so that one of his hands lightly touched the man’s forehead, and with this touch the remainder of the mans body instantly contorted and twisted, limbs turning to unnatural angles as their joints broke with a sickening _crack_. The bones of the mans body creaked, groaned, and splintered as they sprayed shards of bones in all directions. The flesh and blood of the man’s body were cleaved and launched into a cloud of gore that painted the whole grassy field red, yet not one drop touched Hector’s body.

“So messy, why must your last action have to been make me even more depressed…..” Hector lamented as he trudged off towards the village, the sight of burning torches contrasting sharply with the night sky, the shouts of anger and rage piercing the silence of the night. With the half-destroyed home behind him Hector walked past the grassy hill he had sat on with Echidna for years, not even turning to face it as he continued on to the village, a source of great sadness for him throughout his life. Had he turned to face a place that had given him so much happiness and comfort throughout the years he would have seen a certain woman dressed entirely in black, her eyes fixated on him as if he was the most fascinating thing in existence.

Arrayed in front of the village was a group of five armed men standing before a group of angry villagers all carrying torches and pitchforks. Hector recognized the armed men, the older two being the captain of the village guard and the blacksmith, the other 3 being children of one of the two, the trio who had insulted and bombarded Hector with rotting food when he had passed by.

As he approached the captain of the guard raised his sword and shouted out to him, “Stop right there fiend! You are hereby under arrest in the name of the king for the crime of killing your father, either admit to your crimes and come peacefully or I shall slay you where you stand!”

“Noisy, stupid, why must I have to go through all this melancholy” Hector lamented as he raised his palm to face the man before the man’s body was thrown so violently into the ground that a small crater was formed. The captain of the guard was reduced to a gruesome mash of meat and blood as Hector continued to walk towards the group.

“FATHER!”

“MONSTER”

“DEVIL”

All of these were shouted at Hector as the remaining four raised their weapons and rushed towards him, the villagers too frozen in shock at the sight of their best warrior being instantly killed to make the slightest move to help them.

The blacksmith raised his massive hammer with two hands as he prepared to bring it down in a mighty swing to crush Hector, but he was simultaneously slammed in the head, legs, and chest by invisible forces, however the force striking him in the chest was in the opposite direction of the other two. The result was the blacksmiths body bent backwards like a piece of flat bread being folded, a symphony of cracks echoed as his spine snapped in several places while his head was pressed into the inside of his knees. The instant his body hit the ground he was dead. The two twins came at Hector from both the right and left simultaneously, one with a hatchet and the other a dagger, but dropped dead as they were struck in the side of the head by a strong enough force that their heads rotated all the way around before twisting off, leaving their headless body to fall to the ground as blood spurted through the mangled blood vessels in what remained of their necks.

It was then that the last one, a blond man who had once been the boy who jeered at him the loudest stabbed forward with his sword, unlucky for him the sword lacked the ability to surpass the sins that encased Hector. The blade of the sword deformed, twisting and shrinking, before it broke apart into tiny bits of metal. The blond man staggered back at this as he looked upon Hector as one may look at an eldritch abomination, with fear and the sinking feeling that you are standing before a monster that considered you nothing more then an annoying insect.

“W-What are you?” He stammered as he fell backwards to the ground and tried to crawl backwards away from Hector.

To this Hector slowly turned his head to face him with an exhausted look on his face before saying a single word, “Melancholy.” As this word left his lips the chest of the blond man was flattened to a thickness less then that of a slice of bread, a large spurt of blood flew from his mouth before he lay motionless, life having left his body. It was at this sight that screams rose from the villagers as a stampede to get away from the approaching Warlock of Melancholy broke out.

“Splintered, crushed, and broken, your bodies now resemble my spirit…….” Hector sighed as he trudged towards the crowd of villagers tripping over one another as they struggled to get away from him.

“Depressing, Tiring, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic, Melancholic……….” Tears began to form in the corner of Hector’s eyes as he raised his palm towards the crowd of people in front of him, a group of people that were about to be asked to bear the weight of the sins they had placed on his shoulders. A group of people that were about to be subject to the weight of the melancholy he had endured for years. The group of people contained an old couple who would spit at him when he had come to their door to deliver fruit, it contained a pregnant woman who had dumped a chamber pot on his head when she was younger, it contained children barely ten years old who had been taught by their parents that it was okay to run up and hit him when he pulled his cart through the village. They were all sinners in his eyes for they forced him to be a sinner himself, they were all deserving to carry the weight of his melancholy, they all deserved to die in the vain hope that he may find respite from his sadness in their deaths.

And so it was with that, that he raised his palm, yet they were spared when a shout erupted behind him from a voice he cherished so. “AL JIWAD!” Came the shout, and with it a beam of light that burned so hot that it must have been able to burn through even the thickest metal.

Hector spun around in place, pulling his arm close as he balled his palm into a fist causing the beam of light to split into smaller beams and careen into the ground as it neared him, achieving nothing more then slightly warming his skin in the cold night.

When the dust settled, he saw a woman walking towards him; she was clad in a snug black dress yet seemed to radiate a light around her, her steps slow and tired yet she shone with strength and determination, her face red and stained with tears running from her eyes yet Hector felt the tiniest bit of joy at the sight of her.

“Echidna?” Hector’s voice said her name in with not the slightest hint of endearment, it was cold and empty, completely contrasting with the emotions he held in his heart for her.

Hearing her name from his lips seemed to drive a blade right into her heart as she visibly winced, stopping her advance as she clamped her eyes shut, water continuing to seep through her thick white lashes. She mumbled the words “Al Goa” weakly through her breath as a fireball the size of a multistory building formed above her and flew towards Hector.

The ball of fire slammed right into him, seemingly consuming him before the flames were thrown outwards in all directions, reducing the surrounding landscape to char and ash. Hector heard the cries of the villagers behind him grow fainter and fainter as they filtered through the village and escaped into the surrounding countryside, escaping the judgement for their numerous sins committed against him.

The night grew faint once again as the witch and the warlock stood across from one another, a field of ash being the only thing separating them. Hectors drooping face picked up as he stared into the light radiating from his saviour, his angel, his beloved; the sea of melancholy he was submerged in was no match for the joy that the sight of her brought to his heart.

But Echidna was different, tears freely flowed from her eyes as she watched the sight in front of her; as she saw the final form of the broken little boy that she met so long ago, the person she had come to adore and care about, the person she had broken once again after giving into her greed. Her voice quivered and shook as she spoke, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry Hector, I went too far….. I was too curious to know what would happen if you took in a witch factor that you should have perfect compatibility with, I wanted to see the birth of a new warlock, but the cost of it was ……. more then I was willing to pay.” There was then a long pause as she looked down at the ground, seemingly torn as she tried to decide between two options.

“Whaaaat do you mean Echidna, if the witch factor was what you wanted then can’t we leave now, or we could even stay here since the villagers left. Just you and I, we could live happy days like what you told me on the hill, everything could be just perfect like how you described when we were younger.” Hector looked towards Echidna with expecting eyes, yet she just looked down at the ground shaking head as tears continued to run from her eyes.

“No Hector, no we can’t. It was one thing for you to kill your father after what he put you through, it is an entirely different thing for you to try and slaughter a whole village because you can’t stand being around them. I’m sorry I turned you into……. a monster……. simply for my own selfish desire to fulfill my greed…….” Echidna then looked up and Hector saw right into her eyes as her tears continued to flow, whatever had compelled her to do what she did was gone, in its place stood only guilt and regret.

“I don’t understand, but for whatever you did I forgive you, you gaaaave me everything, you are my everythiiiiing; and for that I will forgive whatever you think you did.” Hector said these words with the sincerest meaning in his heart, yet he was no longer capable of conveying anything more then melancholy with his voice. As he took a step towards Echidna who was once again wincing after hearing him speak, her body beginning to tremble as she tried to hold herself together in order to do what she deemed was now necessary.

“Stop Hector, please stop making this harder than it needs to be…… You should hate me for what I did, why don’t you hate me, HOW COME YOU DON’T HATE ME?!?” As Echidna screamed at him the entire surface of the field before her lifted up and launched towards the village as one giant sheet, including the ground Hector was standing on.

He was flying through the air; he could look down and watch as the entire village was being crushed and torn to shreds as the giant chunks of earth smashed and crushed the buildings. Had Hector not been able to exert invisible forces on himself via his own authority he likely would have ended to in a similar state to most of the houses as he landed rather roughly on the opposite edge of the village, not more then a hundred paces from the closest building.

“Why, why, why, why is she doing this, I utterly despise getting all sweaty like this, and yet she does this to me……” Hector sighed as he stood up and began trudging back into the village in search of Echidna, no matter what she put him through it would never outweigh how much she had helped him before, no matter what she did he would always find it in his heart to forgive her.

After walking a back into the village he saw Echidna bent over with her hands on her knees panting after she must have run into the village following her last attack. Hector knew that she was by know means an athlete, so did she force herself run because she was worried she had gone too far, or was there another reason?

After standing back up straight she saw looked right at Hector before turning and darting into a partially collapsed house, her fatigue evident from how sluggish her movements were. Hector followed her although he did not run, instead simply trudging like he had been for the past while.

After entering the house he saw another door shut to one of the inner rooms, a room that likely only had one single door that served as both the entrance and exit. But when Hector opened the door and walked through he found himself inside a room that did not look at all like the rest of the building he had just left. This room had stone walls and windows to the outside, while the building he had entered was built of wood and had appeared to be devoid of windows. When Hector walked towards one of the windows what he saw was not grass, trees, fields, or rubble; instead what stood before him was a vast sea of sand.

The next instant he spun around and saw Echidna standing right there in the doorway, he saw in her red eyes more tears, he saw regret, guilt, and sorrow. In her face he saw pain as she spoke in a voice verging on completely breaking down into tears,” I’m sorry, this is all my fault…… but don’t you dare forgive me for this” and with those words she stepped back out of the room and slammed the door shut. When Hector opened the door to continue following her, all that he saw was a sea of sand devoid of all life, devoid of anything but him and the one room hut. It was into this empty sea that Hector slowly began trudging through as he began his journey to be reunited with the angel who had saved him so long ago, a journey he would carry out no matter how long or how much it cost him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the delay, I both had a large amount of school work to do and then this turned into a 14 thousand word long chapter. Anyways I hope you enjoy it.


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